Hamilton Club Series. 



No. 3. 



IN PRESS, 

No. 4 Hamilton Club Series. 

*' Letters to Alexander Hamilton, King of the Feds. 
Ci-devant Secretary of the Treafury of the United States 
of America, Infpector-General of the Standing Armies 
thereof, Counfellor at Law, &c, &c, &c." 






The Hamilton Club defire to return its 
thanks to Mr. Henry B. Dawson, of Morris- 
ania, N. Y., for the ufe of his fteel-plate portrait 
of Alexander Hamilton, from which the im- 
preffions were taken to illuftrate this number of 
its feries. 



THE 



HAM ILTONIAD. 



/ 

JOHN WILLIAMS, 



(Anthony Pasojjin.) 







NEW YORK: 

Printed for the Hamilton Club. 

1865. 



-• 






Edition 40 copies 8vo. 
20 " 4to. 

JTo. 



Phes9 of J. M. Bradstbeet & Son. 




/ 



THE 



HAMILTONIAD: 

OR, 
AN EXTINGUISHER FOR THE 

ROYAL FACTION OF NEW-ENGLAND. 

WITH 

COPIOUS NOTES, 

ILLUSTRATIVE, BIOGRAPHICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, CRITICAL, ADMONITORY, 

AND POLITICAL ; BEING INTENDED AS A 

HIGH-HEELED SHOE 
FOR ALL LIMPING REPUBLICANS. 



BY ANTHONY PASQUIN, ESQ. 



Sic tranjit gloria mundi ! 

Here to day, and gone laft Sunday ! 

Vide Irifh edition. 



The Monarehifts fnivel and fob, 

And fadden all Bofton towny ; 

Caufe Freedom goes up, up, up, 

And the Tories go down, down, downy ! 

Parody on Swiff s ballad. 



COPY-RIGHT SECURED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS. 



Sold for the Author, price 3 1 cents, at the Independent Chronicle 
Office, Court-Street, Bofton. 






TO 
PERPETUATE THE BRUTAL INFAMY 

OF 

JOHN PARK, M. D. 

A GALENICAL EXCRESCENCE : 

Who is the vile and crawling minion of the Essex Junto, that has been 
labouring to destroy the federal fabric of our Republican Constitution, and 
introduce a monarchical despotism upon its ruins — Who has desolated the 
fair regions of Truth and Taste and Science, by a torrent of verbal barbar- 
ism, which is only congenial with the mind and temperament of a low 
ruffian, who is ignorant of the responsibility of a gentleman to his own 
honour — Who is maintaining a dirty existence at the expense of human 
esteem — AVho made a guilty calculation upon the anti-republican prejudices 
of a particular judicature to diffuse his calumnies in defiance of the existing 
law. — He is the pensioned scavenger and servile dog of the Royal Faction 
of New-England, who are now gasping on their political death-bed ; but 
whose despair and rancour is such, that they can neither die with the 
affiance of christians, or the grace of gentlemen. — To hold up this miscreant 
to endless contempt, who would obliterate the traces of charity and polite- 
ness from mankind, this work is published by 

The Author, 

Who has reason to think, that this is the only portion of a nation, where 
the life and character of a citizen is endangered, by his promoting the vir- 
tuous designs of the general govei^nment of his country. 

Boston, Sept. 6, 1804. 




THE HAMILTONIAD 



CANTO the FIRST. 



The Argument. 



A prodigious glowing description of the Summer season, short but 
sweet. — Fate, being very angry with the cursed pranks of the 
Royal Faction, deputes Death to take away their Leader.* — The 
lamentations of the Party on their mortal loss. — Symptoms of pre- 
sumption in the lesser Feds ; the party are sick and insane, and all 
that. 

In that gay season of the laughing Loves, 
When Cupid flits in amaranthine groves ; 
When the high pulse suffuses Delia's charms, 
And all the nobler passions are in arms ; 



Quod fait esse, quad est : quod nonfuit esse, quod esse , 
Esse quod est,non esse quod est: non est, erit esse. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



When the hot Sun discharg'd his fervid ray, 
In summer's fierce, intolerable day, 
Frying the herbage on the fissur'd ground ; 
Embrowning all the vicinage around. 
When insects flutter'd, in the zenith bless'd ; 
When the Winds doz'd, and even light oppress'd ; 
When the shrill locust twitters from the boughs ; 
And choral toads, 'neath Cynthia, croak their vows ; 
When Labour fainted 'neath the sparkling gleam ; 
When Sirius issued down his madd'ning beam : 
When serpents leave the covert to annoy, 
Uncurl and undulate and writhe with joy : 
Fate, full of ire, to see the matchless crimes, 
That move our Royalists of modern times ; 
(Resolv'd to fill the Tories 1 cup with grief;) 
Gave death a veto to arrest their chief: 
The son of Sin, who's ever in a rage, 
Put on his boots, and took the earliest stage 
That sunk through ether, on Columbia's rout ; 
SeizYl an extinguisher, and — put him out ! 
When Hamilton's great spirit upward flew, 
Hope shut her gates upon the Federal crew ! 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



The Essex Junto felt the mortal blow, 

And lay, dismantled, in a storm of woe : 

Their milk of policy was turn'd to curds : 

Their dirty deeds were chang'd to. . . .dirty words .' 

Sedition puts on mourning — Treason cries, 

And Terror wipes the rivers from his eyes : 

Gaunt Superstition hurls his wig in air ! 

Extortion burns his ledger in despair ! 

They twist, and foam, and whimper, spit and scold, 

As Satan and his caucus did, of old : 

Like wounded adders, by their inis"ry wrung, 

Each Reptile bears fell poison on his tongue 

To injure Virtue! — How they hiss and weep, 

As pitying Goodness lets the vermin creep ? 

Like Cybele's mad priests,* these royal Feds, 

Roar, rave and growl, and dance upon their heads : 

T' alarm our constancy, they Wit assail, 

And shake their bloody tresses in the gale ; 

Burst in the nursery, with hideous yells, 

And frighten gossips with their horrid spells : 



crinemq : rotantes, 

Sanguineum Populis ulularunt tnstia Galli ! Lucian. Book I. 



D THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Till Jedidiah shudders at their looks, 

And the King's Fisher flies from Dedham brooks ! 

Our General's gone the sobbing varlets cry : 

Our General's gone, the echoing hills reply : 

Our Elders tremble, and the morning lowrs ; 

And Pride is indispos'd, and scorn is ours ; 

The wine is drawn that gave our being zest, 

We are the lees, a Party, and. . . .a Jest ! 

Buoyant, but rudderless, our vessel rides ; 

While Ridicule's fierce surges lash our sides ; 

The Pilot's gone, who marshall'd us, in war : 

The Charioteer is stricken from the car : 

The day is sombrous — Vanity is dumb : 

Like junior Bears, our sorrows are to come: 

Eclipse the Sun — Be all the world accurst : 

Now Death and Destiny have done their worst : 

We'll tear the Statutes — sharpen Rancour's claws; 

Unhinge the Union ; and efface the Laws : 

Smash Fortune's wheel — throw Prudence in the mud, 

And get inebriate with Patriots' blood. — 

Poor Alma Mater's bound ! how wan she looks ! 

She gave a royal bias to her books, 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 

To ween her children from the truth they sought, 

And tinge the morals, and debauch the thought ; 

Yet bearing Washington's bright name along, 

To mask the sentiment of Hell's own song ! 

So dire Pizarro wielded Rapine's rod, 

Beneath the symbols of the Lamb of God ! 

Like a Tartarean knot, behold these elves, 

Disrob'd of wit, excoriate themselves : 

Hark how they imprecate ! — they fright the sense ; 

Disgust the vulgar, and sublime offence : 

They make their final overthrow their theme : 

Mark how the Despots blubber and blaspheme ! 

Distraction perturbates Pitt's eleves here ; 

And Fraud dissolves beneath the touch of Fear : 

Dread cuts the saddle from the Federal horse : 

Guilt throws the Alcoran at Dr. M e ! 

New-Hampshire wakes in anger and surprise, 

Damns Gilman's opiates and rubs her eyes : 

Enslav'd Connecticut to think begins, 

And choaks Uriah with his regal sins : 

Like an old scunk, squat, trodden down and lame, 

Swelling with rage, and interdicted fame : 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



Verb-murdering Noah sat, like Envy's nurse, 
Scowling at Phoebus ! — levelling his curse : 
In anguish brandishing his goose-drawn pen ; 
The first of coxcombs, and the last of men ! 
Thus he exclaim'd amid the Royal throng, 
And call'd on Vengeance, in his pointless song. 
Why am I made the shuttlecock of Scorn ? 
Or why engender'd ? — Why are Caitiffs born ? 
Am not I faithful to the royal cause ? 
I mar our grammars, and I hate the laws : 
If I tell Truth, decree me to be curst : 
Tie me to Boreas, till I fill and burst ; 
To aid his roarings, when he's most insane ; 
To howl round Halleras, and lash the main ; 
To dash the tiller from the helmsman's hand, 
And sweep the harvest from the teeming land ! 
Ah ! were I form'd, like Pitt, to scare and huff; 
And made with odds and ends of human stuff; 
Not colour'd, with a fact, but merely stain'd, 
Hewn out for symmetry, but never phin'd : 
An uncreative monster, knit to vex, 
Hermaphroditic, and of neither sex : — 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



But I am doom'd to nibble Treason's buds : 
While Tim, the Pope, is growling in the suds ; 
I feel our tide of glory's on the ebb ; 
I'm wrapt in Obloquy's adhesive web : 
Open my cranium, Learning's vast emporium, 
And play the engine on my hot sensorium : 

Could we but put King R s, in the chair, 

We'd circumscribe this Freedom, with despair : 
Hold Reason to her bail, in heavy fines : 
Gag babbling Wit, and stifle Truth's designs : 
Make Wisdom's cheek, with apprehension, pale, 

And hurry stern Philosophy, to jail ! 

Who'll stab that Pasquin ? I've a keen stilletto ! 

I'm one, says P k, we'll make it a duetto : 

His essays dissipate our federal fog : 

He smiles at Bishops — what a horrid dog ! 

He's pushing Monarchists to Ruin's brink ! 

What iron times ! — How dare an Alien think ? 

The Demon tan his democratic buff: 

He owns he's stupid, yet they'll read his stuff ! 



10 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

S'blood, he shan't breathe — Ah ! my ferocious Tory, 
Just hear a simple Poet, tell his story ; 
Nay though you whet your daggers, foam and lie, 
I cannot swear your Chief was — six feet high ! 



(end of first canto.) 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



CANTO the SECOND. 



Argument. 
A chilling description of the Autumnal Season, coloured from life — 
The Tories in a political purgatory— The King's Fisher, is sorely 
diseased in spirit and vomits his grief, in numbers, more varied in 
feet, than the Centiped — He confesseth multifarious transgressions — 
Pope Timothy become pious from sympathy — The minor Feds, put 
in their claim to consideration. 

When the refulgent God of cheering day, 

Through Heaven's high arch pursued his beamy way, 

To visit Libra ; (an autumnal form) 

Convulsing Ocean with a ruthless storm, 

That buried navies in th' unfathom'd deep : — 

When withering Ministers made Nature weep — 

When Gusts, with faded leaves, bestrew'd the ground, 

And shed the honors of the Forest round ; 

(Sad, mortal emblem, for perturbed man !) 

When Ants, in myriads, to their grain'ries ran — 



12 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

When Yeomen squeez'd their apples into juice ; 
Expressing cyder for the hamlet's use : 
When Chymists cull the medicinal root : 
When ruddy cheek'd Pomona hous'd her fruit : 
When the tann'd Husbandman had stack'd his corn ; 
The husking past ; and Plenty fill'd her horn : 
When Flies, who'd seen three moons, with age grew 

blind : 
When Geese prepar'd to perish for mankind ! 
When Hinds would bruise their maize to fat their 

hogs : 
When Care began to pile his winter's logs : 
When Robins ceas'd to warble on the spray, 
And Nature's vigour seem'd to feel decay : 
When Housewives buy new blankets for their beds : 
The shatter'd remnants of these Royal Feds, 
By Desperation call'd, (a motley throng) 
Pourtray'd their matchless agonies, in song ! ! — 
First, the King's Fisher (now no halcyon nigh) 
Commenc'd his peerless ditty, with a sigh ! 
Th' egregious Dabbler, in the parts of speech, 
Alternately would threaten and beseech : 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 13 

In Essays (innocent of thought) complain, 
Led by the Ignis fatuus of his brain : 
Oh, for the loyal days of Gen'ral Gage ; 
When Yankees sung, their sorrows, in — a cage ! 
Express'd a reverence in the tone of fear, 
And paid their tribute with a decent tear : 
How Lewis proves the bliss to be unwise ! 
With perfect modesty, how Coleman — lies : 
The bronze of Carpenter proclaims his sect ; 
And Park gives nonsense aspect and effect ; 
How Imposition doats upon their clack ! 
What charming chesnuts, for the De'el to crack ! 
I'll write no more for Printers stern and dull : 

The R lis drink their claret from — my scull : 

Ligneous lump, the seat of mental pains, 
Cumbrous as woe, yet unoppress'd with — brains ! 

John A s growls, indignant, but forlorn, 

While the world gives their pity for his scorn ! 
God help the little States, they're full of trouble ; 
Fortune's a jilt ! Ambition is a bubble ; 
Good by'e, Rhode-Island — Delaware, adieu ; 
Behold these tears ! they gush, they flow, for you : 



14 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Forefend them Heaven, for sure that day will come, 
When Pennsylvania's and Virginia's claws, 
Shall seize these tiny Darlings, for their maws, 
And gulp them, as the Cow did Tommy Thumb ! 
The Philosophic Chief of Monticello, 
Is such a heterodox and hungry fellow ; 
Churches and Chapels, Synagogues and Kirkies, 
To him are Capons, Ducks, and Geese and Turkies. 
Faith stalks at large — Urbanity will swagger ; 
And redd'ning Bigotry must hide his dagger : 
Had I his power, prerogative, and place, 
I'd trim these Wits, and flog 'em into — grace ; 
Fry, like Saint Larry, casuistic Souls ; 
Satan might like a rasher on the coals — 
My heated temper mounts, inflam'd with ire ; 
And, boils, like Julien's soup, upon the fire ! 
Would I were metamorphos'd to a Flea, 
I'd hop to Washington, with cruel glee, 
Steal in the galligaskins of our Chief, 
And make his Excellency twist with grief ; 
Watch, when he wrote of Diplomatic news ; 
And make him careless of his P's and Q's. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 15 

Ah, now I droop, beneath the thumb of Care, 
I'll take off Horror's cutting edge, by prayer: 

The King's Fisher's Prayer. 

Vir bonus est Q UIS ! 
The good man's a political Quiz ! 

Vide Dog-Latin. 

For thee, oh George, and kingly craft, 
From my heart's core, I fervent waft 

My sighs across the ocean : 
Ah ! could I here thy influence see, 
I'd grub up Freedom's sacred tree, 

And give the Furies motion. 
Farmers and vile Mechanics too, 
(Faugh ! now I scent the vulgar crew) 

Will in the Congress gabble ; 
Where none but pension'd Lords should sit, 
T' indorse the writs of Billy Pitt, 

And muzzle all the rabble. 
Hot Rage, is gnawing through my trunk, 
Be calm, my soul — I'll try the Monk, 



16 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Come hither, Jedidiah ! 
Let Faith's pure articles be mine ; 
I know you'd swallow thirty-nine, 

And be a mitre higher. 
I will not be that Thing I am ; 
Give to my grasp the Orijiamme ;* 

I'll wield the gaudy banners : 
Dazzle the senses of the croud, 
Amaze the weak — Seduce the proud, 

And royalize their manners. 
My throbbing heart can bear no more : 
Make me combustious — half seas o'er : 

High charg'd from Treason's cup : 
Then lead me midst the virtuous throng, 
I'll watch the acme of their song, 

Then burst and blow 'em up ! 
Ah ! would the witch of Colchos, shew, 
(For I'm no Conjuror you know) 

How she makes Dragons dozy : 
I'd physic Pasquin and Duane, 
Lull the fierce guards of Cheetham's brain, 

Till Truth, with wrath, was rosy ! 

* The royal consecrated banner, of the expatriated Bourbon family, in France. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 

As I grow old, I go astray ; 
Come sweet Hygeia wash away 

The bile from off my liver ; 
Having but Sysiphean skill, 
To raise a stone that rolls down hill, 

I curse the gift and giver. 

There's swore he'd stab our Chief, 

And yet the wretch ('tis past belief) 

Mocks God at the communion ! 
If I cry, zounds ! how Deacons bark, 
Or get six cents worth, in the dark, 

'Tis told to all the Union ! 
Were we hung up in classic skies, 
As signals, chang'd, for telling lies, 

How Bonaparte 'd stare ! 

E y a lateral Crab you'd see ; 

Bandano and grim Laco 'd be 

The great and lesser Bear ! 
My whiskers, once of hazel hue, 
Chang'd, like Moll CoggirCs wig, to blue, 

May aid to 'scape detection : 
My cheeks are wet with tory tears ; 



17 



18 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Each Wish is pinch'd by rising Fears, 

And Chagrin rides ^Reflection. 
What reck'ning Freedom has 'gainst me ! 
Could she but keep an Inn, d'ye see, 

I'd list while Patriots talk : 
Steal in her bar with visage sad, 
Swear that the heart-burn made me mad, 

And lick off all the chalk ! 
What's Aristocracy, but woe ? 
A social bane — the Christian's foe ! 

I would, but can't, run from it : 
Grandeur's a bubble, boiling hot, 
For God's sake, Patience, bring the pot, 

'Fore Heaven, I shall vomit ! 
Then Wisdom thus, with pitying looks, 
" Egregious man, I gave thee books, 

But you have never read 'em ; 
Embrace those blisses Fate has sent ; 
Be free — Be equal — Be content, 

And smile, once more, at Dedham 
Let Britain fight, for Britain's self. 
Put all thy essays on the shelf; 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 19 

Propel no more the riot : 
Contract the measure of thy cares 
Eschew sedition — say thy pray'rs : 

And go to sleep in quiet." 
Like the Phabeian Byblis, craz'd with fears, 
Sat Pontiff Tim, dissolving into tears 
By Misery mark'd, and smarting with her rod, 
He threw his Lexicon at Laco's god : 
Now wept, now laugh'd, at each convulsive throe, 
A Tragi-comic, spectacle of woe ! 
At length, in pity, to his matchless grief, 
Morpheus descended to infuse relief; 
Gather'd a herh, from the Cimmerian bed, 
And squeez'd the zest, with labour, through his head ; 
Then, most sublimely stupid, Yale's black lord, 
Fell down recumbent, snuffled, writh'd and snor'd — 
Rapt, in his sleep, all gorgeous, big and bright, 
The vast Hierarch fill'd his mental sight ; 
To all the Diocesan aims allied ! — 
Forestalling every privilege of pride ! — 
Freighting with thunders from the Mother Church ! — 
Leaving the vulgar Christian in the lurch ! — 



20 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Sinking in soul, a Despot to adore ! — 

Kissing the skirts of Babylon's red whore ! — 

To make D. D.'s ennobled, rich and grand, 

And scatter mitres o'er the promis'd land : 

For Massachusetts, (on the Monk's petition) 

He trac'd an Abbey, for his own condition : 

But gave Connecticut the— INQUISITION ! 

While yet the vision blisses could impart ; 

While Joy's full tide was pouring through his heart : 

The papal bubble broke ! — That Imp of song, 

His own man Noah (ever in the wrong) 

Stole in to tell him, with a hideous yell, 

How C b had struggled, and how W 1 fell! 

When all his nerves were knitted by Despair ; 
And Grandeur melted into viewless air ! 
Thus, when a vapour, (issued from a fen,) 
Fraught with a pest, to sow disease 'mong men, 
Hangs pendant on the margin of a Town, 
With sullen ponderance and sable frown ; 
A keen North- Wester, rushing from the Lakes, 
Bursts the concretion and the fluid breaks. 
Then rosy-finger'd Health resumes her sway, 
And Truth's broad beam irradiates the day. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 21 

Superb New-Haven moan'd — Hope look'd askew, 
And pale Uriah's candles all burnt blue : 
The minor Feds pour'd in, with panting breath, 
To crave his blessing, ere they sunk in death ; 
But Tim was so bewilder'd with his sorrow, 

He d d them all, and bade them call to-morrow : 

While Retribution, to coerce their glories, 
Spread a tenesmus and hard-bound the Tories ! 



END OF CANTO SECOND. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



CANTO the THIRD. 



Argument. 

Winter delineated in all his horrors — A slight sketch in imitation of 
Virgil's Night — Somnus, in compassion to the Royal Faction, ad- 
ministers a short repose — They are awakened by their familiar 
Demon — Each utters a dying Speech — The Gods, offended at their 
criminality and arrogance, extinguish their humanity in a meta- 
morphosis — An Elegy at their hall of carousal. 

When, at past four, P. M. the radiant God, 
(Led by the Paphian Boy's imperious nod) 
Sunk, neath th' horizon, arm'd with am'rous fires, 
His magic song, announcing his desires : 
To clasp his Thetis to his burning breast ; 
Leaving a sordid hemisphere to rest ; 
Amid th' inclement rulers of the hour — 
When Winter's icy minions urge their pow'r — 
In that dread Season, when the saline force, 
Congeals the Baltic and arrests its course : 



24 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

When savage Boreas begins his reign, 

And pours his terrors on the heaving main ; 

Howling terrific in the murd'rous gale ; 

To scare the Mariner, and rend his bellying sail ; 

Rebut him, way-worn, from the port of Ease, 

And hurl him backward through the roaring seas ; 

While love-lorn Mary, looks with tearful eyes, 

And pitying William, freights the wind with sighs !— 

When the Balance revel in the floods ; 

When the gaunt wolf wakes Echo in the woods, 

And bays the silver Regent of the night, 

Who glitters through the concave of the sight ! 

When Seamen shiver at the hollow blast, 

While the snow gathers round the thick'ning mast — 

When Bacchanals uplift the flowing bowl, 

To elevate the functions of the soul ; 

Thaw the cold juices of the gelid breast ; 

And welcome tipsy Revelry, and Jest. — 

When Gossips huddle near the crackling fire, 

To prate of Ghosts and incantations dire : 

How Witches blight the harvest as they list, 

And ride on besoms, through the clammy mist ; 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 25 

Of Wizards' talismans, and ills they wrought, 
Till the sense fears the image of the Thought ! 
When the keen sleet makes puny Travellers sigh — 
When wild geese scream, erratic, through the sky — 
When Farmers, for their kine, break up the brook — 
When Crickets chirrup from the smoky nook — 
When the Vermonter yokes his wheelless cart, 
And scuds, with ven'son, down to Boston mart : 
When, round the blazing hearth gay groupes incline, 
To munch their shag-barks and to mull their wine 
When the North Gale, in whistling wrath, appears, 
And bites the selvidges of Yankey ears : 
When the vast hills are whiten'd o'er with snow — 
When Graziers sled their ricks from fens below — 
When Darkness circumscribes the cheerless day — 
When Fishes wriggle from the snow-fraught bay — 
When viscid Serpents burrow'd, in a heap, 
In intersecting curves, fraternal sleep : 
When bell-deck'd horses draw the rapid sleigh, 
O'er beds of ice (beneath pale Cynthia's ray) 
To Pleasure's midnight haunts, where Beauty throws 
Her fears aside, and dances, sips and glows! 



26 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

When shrinking Toil, collapsing in the air, 
Lights his segar and puffs away despair — 
When Strength perceives the issue of his breath — 
When bank-lodg'd Swallows doze in demi-death — 
When Matrons knit their husbands' fleecy hose — 
When mucus dribbles from the frost-night nose ! 
In that inclement hour, when Day grew blind, 
And Somnus throws narcotics to mankind : 
Clogg'd with the poppies of Lethean sleep, 
The Faction slumber'd and forgot to — weep ! 
Each hand withheld from throwing Fortune's dice, 
Respite from misery, and woe and vice : 
The ides of March the fourth were all forgot, 
And their what was, absorb'd in — what is not ! 
Gaunt Envy ceas'd, immortal men to hoot, 
And even Slander's foamy tongue was mute. 
*The bright stars twinkled in the vaulted sky ; 

* Nox erat ; et placidum carpebant sessa soporem 
Corpora per terras ; silvajque et sasva quierant 
.lEquora ; cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu ; 
Cum tacet omnis ager ; pecudes, pictajque volucres, 
Quasque lacus late liquidos, quseque aspera dumis 
Rura tenent, somno positie sub uoete silenti 
Lenibant curas ; et corda oblita laborum. 
At non infelix animi Phajnissa : Virgil. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 27 

Responsive Hogs, were grunting in the sty ; 
The bark lay torpid on the azure wave ; 
The winds were hush'd in th' iEolian cave ; 
The Gossamer was chain'd, and all at rest, 
Except the Cyprian boy in Chloe's breast. 

At length, the Demon, leagird with Hate and Care, 
Touch'd each, in turn, and call'd him to Despair : 
With shudd'ring sympathy, and op'ning claws, 
The Band uprose, in a Tartarean noise, 
With ennui yawning, till they crack'd their jaws! 
They cast, in ire, their glaring eye-balls round, 
And scowl'd, and scar'd, and shrugg'd, and moan'd 
and frown'd : 



Tous ces vers coulent d'un movement presque insensible: chaque phrase a son 
repos : et Ton y sent le charme <lu sommeil. Voyons si l'on retrouve l'original dans 
la copie de Voltaire. 



Les astres de la nuit rouloient dans le silence ; 

Eole a suspendu les baleines des vents ; 

Tout se tait sur les eaux, dans les bois, dans les champs, 

Fatigue des travaux qui vont bieutot renaitre, 

Le tranquille taureau s'endort avec son maitre ; 

Les malheureux humains ont oublie leurs maux, 

Tout doit, tout s'abandonue aux charmes du repos. 

Phcenisse veille et pleure. 



28 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

With cank'ring fangs, all grinding to molest, 
They hurnm'd, like Hornets, brav'd within their nest. 
Some shriek'd their woe in alt, while some were harsh ; 
And croak'd, like Bull-frogs, in the dismal marsh : 
Some, of vast bulk, lay poison'd by Ill's leaven, 
Like prostrate Titans, who'd offended Heaven : 
They saw Perdition's gulph, black, deep and foul, 
Till the pain'd Sight brought terror to the Soul : 
Some, with burst hearts, hung pensive o'er their knees ; 
While others felt them shrivell'd into peas : 
Many sat couchant on their quiv'ring hams, 
Entranc'd with apathy, and cold as clams. 
Some perch'd, presumptuous, mid the Tory train, 
Blackguards in thought and act, and blood and grain : 
Prompt or to swear, or lie, or stab or run, 
And unroof Chapels, in the noon-day Sun : 
Miscreants who'd fatten in immoral wars, 
Who'd tear the Decalogue to light segars : 
Who'd wade in carnage, for a demi — price, 
Minions of Guilt, and pioneers of Vice. 
Fed pounc'd on Fed, and brother taunted brother, 
Spitting, like roasting apples, at each other ; 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 29 

'Twas you're half Democrat, with freedom cramm'd ; 

And you, are trimming, Sir, and you be d d ! 

Tim P g thus, in irregular strains, 

Slaver' d out his resentment and pictur'd his pains : 
Take the Sun and the Moon from the day and the night, 
Draw the Earth's massy linch-pin — Abolish Delight : 
Should the Fish cleave the seas, or Birds chirp in the 

air, 

While M n fills my official chair ? 

Thence I batter'd at Freedom, with Pitt for my gir'de, 
While L — st — n and H — m — n flank'd on each side ; 
There we plann'd social ills that admit of no cure, 
And made poor struggling France, a vile caricature ; 
Rais'd taxes and armies to coax and alarm, 
And with rank Tory pus touch'd the Federal arm ; 
Strove to sneer down all good, and were riding post 

haste, 
When the thunders of God, laid our infamy waste ; 
Awful Justice uprose, and surveying the evil, 
Kick'd our factious Cabal, and their plots to the Devil ! 
Now I feel as perturbed as tides 'neath the Moon, 
Or a Dollar ramm'd down, for a voyage to Canton : 



30 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Or an Iberian Bull in the murderous ring : 
Or Love in the suds, or a Pig in a string : 
Or a Knave with the stripes of a stern, civic whipper, 
Or a Cod on the hook of a Marblehead skipper. 
Wisdom's render'd the halters of Cruelty nooseless : 
Now, like Cats in new buildings, our talons are useless : 
Some are sick — some cashier d and from duty exempt, 
Or hung up, like torn Coats, on the pegs of Contempt! 
With a singd paw, like Folly's ductile Cat, 

The beardless Star-Gazer of S d sat ; 

Hammering Lies ! — Like Vulcan at his fire, 

Begrim'd with filth, and reeking with his ire : 

More subtle Catilines, in shade, behind, 

Fed the hot forge, or rais'd th' inflaming wind ! 

He'd fashion'd the tenth Lie, with skill profound, 

When Hell's infernal Tenants, crawl'd around ; 

In horrid extacy they said, or sung ; 

Can one so mischievous, be yet so young ? 

Be this a Fete cVenfer, grim Moloch, howls ; 

Let Io Pcean, charge Perdition's Souls ; 

'Twixt Sin & Shame, a new-fledg'd crime is trac'd : ' 

'Tis H — lb — t — m, first in order plac'd 

The old Enormities are all disgrac'd. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 31 

Be it the theme of fell Tartarean lays : 
The Machiavelian Spirit gives it praise ! 

Lull'd from these scenes by Sleep's embalming care : 
Then rous'd from Slumber's clutches by Despair ; 
The legal Prattler (fond of a debate) 
View'd his burnt fingers, and thus sigh'd to Fate. 
Why am I now the shuttlecock of Life ; 
The point of Laughter, and the germ of Strife : 
Why have you suffer'd in the world's great mart, 
Contempt to hold a mortgage on my heart ? 
'Tis not bar-practice, and deserves no fee ; 
If you say 'tis, come down and ask old The. 
Why am I thus encumber'd with distress ; 
I'd make you justify, if you were less — 
We've other Royalists more dire than me, 
Who walk, on carpets, to eternity ! 
Lo ! Draco sits a Tyrant and a Judge, 
His tone, a menace, and his thought a grudge : 
No kindly sympathies attune his age : 
His pulses quick'ning only in — his rage ! 
O'er Freedom's sons, his aching eye-balls roll, 
Hate, in his breast, and Treason in his soul ; 



32 THE HAMILTONIAD 

So mean, he'll creep for favors, through the mire : 

Then spurn the Dolt, that sated his desire. 

The Furies hail him, as he chills the day, 

And Terror stalks, before him, on his way : 

A Slave, in principle — an active Flaw : 

A Dog, 'mong worthies, and a Fiend, in law : 

At Death's black portal the worn miscreant stands : 

With fearful eyes, and parricidal hands : 

While Wisdom's manacled, and Honor weeps, 

He prates of equity, and says — he sleeps ! ! ! 

His blood-stain'd fangs made Desolation start : 

And Mercy shuddered as she view'd his heart. 

Demi-secluded from his fallen Peers, 
Thus H. G. 0. expressed his well-bred fears : 
My Allies sicken — Baal is laid low, 
And ev'ry month creates a new-fiedg'd woe : 
Were but their functions equal to their phlegm, 
They'd run from me, who cannot run from them : 
Each Caucus now, I reprobate and rue ; 
I'd start an alibi, but that won't do. 
Mesh'd in the Fed'ral web, I'm leagu'd to work, 
I've worn the crescent and must shield the Turk. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 33 

W — rr — n must drag each new-born feud to light, 

And I array them for statistic sight : 

Disreputable toil of fell distress, 

That's prais'd by few, and e'en that few gets less. 

I'd publish, could I, and without a fee, 

My nollem factum against Liberty ! 

Bring me Medea's kettle, plunge me in : 

Ah, lave these royal speckles from my skin : 

How small the error, when such ills commence ! 

How great the evil, in the consequence ! 

What's a palazzo, but the base of Care, 

Unless Content sits jocund in our chair : 

With sparkling vision blessing Reason's bowl, 

And op'ning ev'ry alley of the Soul ? 

Yet, though opposing modes may vex the hour, 

I trust Urbanity will keep his pow'r ; 

To harmonize Ambition's ruthless song, 

And lead resplendent Charity along. — 

Say, shall the attributes of Peace be o'er ? 

Shall social blandishments be known no more ? 

Shall the prophane and vile, from Envy's den, 

Stand on a parallel with radiant men ? 



34 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



Shall Rudeness execrate Wit's polish'd song, 

Merely that blatant Rudeness dare be wrong ? 

Forbid, this harsh result to be endur'd : 

In this kind aim, let Party be abjur'd — 

A Gentleman's a being Gods inspire, 

Beyond the vulgar, and of purer fire ; 

Reproving weaknesses by poignant sense, 

Never offending — Slow to meet offence : 

Either Minerva woos him to be kind : 

One nerves his arm, the other nerves his mind : 

Serenely firm he lifts his awful crest, 

And Beauty nestles in his ample breast : 

Giving disdain to each unhallow'd fear ; 

In action, noble — In expression, clear : 

By Delicacy's mandate taught and rais'd, 

He smooths those ethics that the Schools have prais'd; 

(Like the involving fluid of our earth,) 

Throws a decorum round his spell-bound mirth, 

That limits gladness with a pure controul, 

And chains the effervescence of the Soul ! 

That, which in coarser spirits nurtures pride, 

With him is dignity and ease allied — 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 35 

Like the young May, mid issuing sweets, he rose — 

His mien enhances what his heart bestows — 

Love warms his pulses with a gen'rous tire, 

While Science sheathes the fury of desire ! — 

He thinks of man, as those who've frailties ought, 

And his chaste language dulcifies that thought — 

Calm Pleasure breathes her influence o'er his day, 

And Virtue hails the moral of his lay : 

A Christian hero, and the foe of Strife, 

The slave of Honor and the grace of life ! — 

The wiles of Policy should ne'er efface 

That cheap suavity man owes his race ; 

Electric charm, that keeps the Passions even, 

And gilds our antics, till we soar to Heaven ! 

Like Marius peeping through Mintumian reeds, 

Begrim'd, yet arrogant with daring deeds, 

Crouch'd royal T — cy, behind Treason's bier, 

Warming with hate, then shivering with fear : 

A Factious ague, varying his woes ; 

Inflam'd at noontide, and at midnight froze ! 

Thus the man murmur'd : — Fortune, pest of Hell, 

Inconstant wench — Ah ! Horace knew thee well, 

5 



36 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

I'll snatch the bandage from thy darken'd eyes : 
Look at thy Slave ! — be kind — for once be wise : 
If there is truth in Sallust, Catiline 
Was but a partial sacrifice of thine — 
Survey my royal friends, thou potent witch : 
Some demi-damn'd, while some are in a ditch : 
Our immature Noblesse, from Reason scud, 
Wriggling, like tadpoles, through a stagnant mud : 

Lo, where his Grace of Br e, maudlin sits, 

Dead to young Joy, — A bankrupt in his wits : 

Monarchic Raven ! — Cause, without effect ; 

Like prophet Brothers, he's outliv'd his sect — 

Laid up in ord'nary, behold his Trunk, 

Gnaw'd by Care's worms, tho' caulk'd with British junk. 

His topmast struck — His timbers all bespoke — 

His cable shorten'd, and his anchor broke : 

Like Attic portals, by the Gazer seen, 

His ruin merely proving he has been ! — 

When Sandy shiver'd him, ambition scowl'd ; 
Folly was jubilant and Treason howl'd : 
Then mammoth Jefferson rose up to pow'r : 
Truth rear'd her crest, and Schism moan'd our hour ! 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Our Faction's awe-struck — Guilt has done his part : 
Th' arterial blood is banish'd from the heart, 
The G — w — ds weep and doze, but cannot think : 
And Tim, his Holiness, is lost in drink : 

Boston, that royal hot-bed of the States, 
Now sinks in grief — now menaces the Fates : 
Ot — s, mellifluous Ot — s, cannot please : 
His silver accents only charm the Breeze : 
The flood is past, that fed our moon-drawn tide, 
And Sorrow's ebb, reduces mortal pride. 
Regard our minions perishing by scores ; 
The Party's offals rot on Freedom's shores ! 

The gentle G — rn — r, in tears came next, 
Becloath'd in sables, sulky, sad and vext, 
Eager to prattle — A meek, kindly soul ; 
In his right hand he flourish'd forth a scroll : 
In imitation of the Conscript Sires : 
Feeling their foppery, but not their fires ; 
A sign of eloquence, thus Art opines, 
The inarticulate must deal in signs : 
Making the obsequies of Death a joke, 
(Ah ! had he thought, as often as he spoke) 



37 



88 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

With air facetious neutraliz'd the gloom, 

A very Petit maitre at the tomb ! 

Sniirk'd, sigh'd and snivell'd to his Royal Clan, 

Took his rappee, then hemm'd, and thus began. 

Decking his verbiage in tinsel charms, 

While Syntax frown'd in anger and in arms : — 

" Go, Alex, mid the spirits of the brave, 

While royal tears, embalm your royal grave : 

Tulip of Federalism — germ of Pride ; 

By Britain bolster'd, and to Grace allied ; 

Inform me, by next post (to ease my woe) 

If there's an Aristocracy below ! — 

Don't peep above thy bourn, my splendid friend, 

New England's gone — our treason's at an end : 

Nor Bank-civilities — nor English gold, 

Could bribe the Yankeys — They will not be sold : 

The Priest is muzzled and the Dolt's in dread : 

The Monk is mute, and Fisher's gone to bed ! 

E'en hacknied C — le — n's breast pumps up a sigh 

And begs forgiveness as he pens the lie ! 

Like foul Arachne, savage, lean and dire, 
Coils Anglo-D — nn — e, pregnant with his ire : 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 39 

Th' impoison'd web in which he spits and crawls, 
Extends from Delaware to James's walls : 
Whence Pitt electrifies his Reptile's blood, 
And gives him impetus to murder good ! 
Transfuses venom cross the troublous deep, 
While all the Muses stare, and wond'ring weep : 
Why am I thus ? the snivelling Bardling cries : 
(Ah why ! Parnassus' echo, shrill replies :) 
Those Gods are false in whom I put my trust ; 
p — ck — g's craz'd, and Hamilton is dust : 
J — Y 's in his second childhood — R — ss is nought : 
And Ch — se is wasting in obtrusive thought : 
I've made the institutes of Right a jest : 
I've strew'd vile faeces o'er my natal nest : 
I've stain'd that honor which upheld my youth : 
I've varnish'd Sophistry and slaughter'd Truth. 
He had said more....but Reason in affright, 
Call'd Shame to sweep him in eternal night ! 
Oblivion bring thy thickest blanket here : 
Send Ocean's pail to catch this gushing tear : 
Give me the Doldrums — marry me to Strife : 
Abridge my pangs and antedate my life : 



40 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

Our Faction once, amaz'd the sense of man, 
Like proud Palmyra, ere its woes began. 
What are we now ? The intimates of Scorn, 
Mere dust and ashes, trdden and forlorn ! 
How careless mortals scud from day to day, 
Nearing their ruin — miserably gay: 
Swilling pestif 'reus draughts from Circe's cup — 
Sucking, like amber, worthless gew-gaws up — 
Growing more vile, by each succeeding feat — 
Strap me to Neptune's car and bathe me sweet ; 
Why are we heard, but voluble in groans ? 
Mad in our deed — The virus in our bones — 
The Devil take Deucalion and his stones. 

Then J — y began, in moralizing strains, 
And thus pourtray'd the circle of his pains : 
With retrospective horror, wild and hot, 
He spit enigmas, thick as Preble's shot. 
Pride warms that breast, which Reason should have 

cool'd : 
I rul'd a State, but now alas, am rul'd : 
The Bible, which I read (a long time past) 
Makes the last first, and then the first, makes last : 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 41 

*That which was, what is it ? shew, 
That which it was, it is not now ! 
To be what 'tis, is not to be, you see : 
That which is not, shall yet a being be ! 
All Nature's in a dance, at Ruin's rout, 
Where some cut in the jig, while some — cut out! 
Should these salt drops roll down my cheek, by scores, 
Who's breath'd in Courts — Who's op'd St. James' 
doors, 

And supp'd with Honorable — sons of w s ? 

Whom Grenville took so often by the fist : 
Who Kings have prais'd and Countesses have kist ? 
Who sign'd a cov'nant that had ne'er been read, 
And sold our rights to prove myself — well-bred. — 

There's L s, chair'd, our point of gubernation : 

And Liberty has nail'd him to the station : 
For Delicacy's stage he ne'er was book'd — 
Like a ship's elbow, knotty, hard and crook'd, 
He binds the flimsy scantlings by his toughness ; 
And draws his vulgar value, from his roughness : 

* A free rendering of the Latin motto, to Gen. Hamilton's character. 



42 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

While I, the pink of kindness, roam, at large, 
He banquets daily at the public charge ! — 
My heart gets less and less — my ills increase : 
Coerce my Torments — Bid my Sorrows cease : 
Transform me into hose, to smoke and rot 
Round rancid feet, when Summer's suns are hot : 
Fix me, like Turkies, to some ice-bound spot, 
That Dolts may shoot me, for six cents a shot: 
Make me a rudder, in the eastern seas, 
For Lubber's paws, to misdirect and teaze : 
My hour-glass lags — My occupation's gone , 
What once was day, is now a dies non ! 

Hear Ell — t chatter, like a peevish Pie ; 
Though all his argument is, I, I, I ! 
He seems t' insinuate good as in despite, 
A Pye-bald Patriot, neither black nor white ! 

Hark! 'tis the recreant Monk — "Plagues mark 
that hour, 
When I was tainted with a lust of pow'r : 
Tie Liberty upon the rack of Wrath — 
Go deluge Jefferson, with Fed'ral froth — 
Each eye-ball now is starting from its sphere : 
" Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here." 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 43 

Now all's hypocrisy ! — 'Tis Rudeness braves, 

And morals suffer most from pious knaves : 

Who is good-natur'd in his social deeds ? 

Not him who fattens, but the Dolt wdo bleeds ! 

Men rail at duels, with self-saving sneers, 

And wrap their cowardice in christian fears! 

Th' uncrested P — ck — y, marvellous and wan, 

In elegiac tone his ills began, 

Like the sad accents of a dying swan ! 

How man, in goodness, should his time employ — 

How frail's the tenure of a Faction's joy! — 

Not twenty moons ago our Party's chain, 

Ran, link in link, from Georgia into Maine : 

While Hamilton, with necromancy warm, 

Issued from central York, the apt alarm ; 

To freight, with royal spells, our iron charm. 

Then in big bulk, we flounder'd, at our ease, 

As the Leviathan deforms the seas ; 

In one vast compact body, firm we lay, 

Like icy masses in the frozen bay ; 

Impeding the free commerce of the land, 

Condens'd, though hideous — terrible, though grand : 

6 



44 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

At length the radiant force of Virtue gleam'd, 

Darted her fires and thaw'd us, as she beani'd : 

Till a deep crash, like Ruin's mandate rose, 

Marking our dissolution, and our woes ; 

The tide of Reason undermin'd our state, 

Till its full influence had fix'd our fate : 

Our fragments, then upheav'd from Treason's mud, 

In wild despondence floated down the flood ; 

Unpatroniz'd and vagrant, torn from power ; 

Melting tow'rds nothingness, in every hour ! 

Oh miserable man ! thus vain to be ; 

" Seeing, what I have seen, seeing what I see." 

How streams of Misery shove us to Despair : 

My ills, last week, would make a Stoic swear — 

Last Monday night, I lost my Steed ! 

Virginia has no better breed : 

Last Tuesday night, I lost my Cousin : 

Now Death has all — I had a dozen ! 

Last We'nsday* night — I lost my Brother! 

Fate cannot send me — such another. 

Last Thursday night, my Mistress died : 

No Co. have I ! — I should have cried : 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 45 

Last Friday night, I lost my credit ; 
(The British Faction made and fed it) : 
Last Saturday, I lost my Friend, 
My anguish ne'er will have an end ! 
Last Sunday night, I lost my wits, 
And now I weep and laugh, by fits : 
Can any have misfortunes worse ? 
I'm really sorry for — my Horse ! 

Connecticut's high Pope, and royal guide, 
With a smear'd manual lying by his side : 
His keen eyes dimm'd with Sorrow's salted stream, 
First kick'd his wig, and then began his theme. 
(While abject Noah, dying by degrees, 
Peep'd through the outer key-hole, on his knees.) 
Ere the Tiara, mock'd me, in a vision ; 
Ere I became the point of men's derision : 
In artless minstrelsy I pass'd my youth, 
And sung of Canaan, and the age of Truth ; 
When tribes in heaven and honor plac'd their trust ; 
When Priests were poor, and even Jews were just ! 
In my adolescence, like some coy maid, 
Of man, but more of Flattery afraid ; 



46 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

In deeds of innocence I pass'd my days ; 

At Guilt I trembled, and I blush'd at praise ; 

In holy maidenhood I meekly grew, 

Eschewing Satan and his flaunting crew — 

Ere lust of pow'r had made me sick and vain ; 

Ere Pride had warp'd the timbers of my brain : 

And led me, like a vig'rous ram, to be 

Select and branded with a huge D. D. — 

Where is our Royal Faction : — who can tell ? 

Maim'd in Contempt's incurable Hotel ! 

The Deadly Seven, who held this State in fetters, 

By Sin are spotted o'er, like Pests in tetters : 

Truth holds them down to answer for her woes, 

As Dustan held the Devil by the nose ! — 

All — n is bilious — Sm — th is in a trance, 

And curst St. Vitus teaches B — ce to dance. 

Ed — m — ds is dwindling with a cholera morbis ; 

And D — gg — t's sent to York for Doctor Forbes : 

Our plots 'gainst human rights have been unravell'd ; 

And both the G — ch — s are sorely gravell'd — 

I, who was mounting up Ambition's sky, 

The great High Priest of every thing that's high : 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 



47 



Like an immense Balloon, admir'd and rare, 
Till Abr'am smote the flatulent affair, 
Open'd the valve and let out all the air ! 
Damn'd may he be, for this unhallow'd deed ; 
Let no church welcome him, or eke his seed : 
May all deny him bev'rage in his thirst ; 
Be he by man and magistrate accurst : 
Emasculate him and unstring his reins : 
Hide the catholicon when he complains ; 
Monks heap hot coals upon the Casuist's head, 
And u — e, on his ashes, when he's dead. 
Rapt in a reverie of sickly doubts, 

Th' egregious E t prattles, prates, and pouts ; 

With ambo-dexter rights and wrongs opprest, 

The Incubus sits heavy on his breast ; 

With spleen and eccentricity accurst, 

In plaintive numbers thus he swell'd and burst. 

Like twilight gleams I glimmer on the sight, 

Ling'ring towards day, but sinking into night: 

To King or Freedom never to be fixt ; 

A Friend to neither, but a Thing- betwixt ; 

A vocal Dipthong, true to neither house ; 

A Bat of Faction, neither bird nor mouse : 



48 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

A vain Camelion, fraught with varying pow'r, 
To take the tint which Folly gives the hour : 
When, in presumptuous mood, I'm waxing hot, 
Keen Randolph rakes me with an attic shot : 
Then I exclaim, in Terror's dulcet tone, 
Take me Dubiety, I'm all thy own — 
Bear me, while breathing, from this dreaded fray 
Fold me in cotton for some safer day — 
What's Virtue but a name ? — we're all enslav'd : 
Lo ! the worn Vet' ran * begs of him he — sav'd ! 



* The VETERAN of 76. 

When the tyrants of Britain, with fury oppress'd us ; 

And the States shook with terror, our foes so distress'd us ; 

We girded our swords on, while Washington bless'd us, 

And for this I have curses and rags for my ration -.—Date obolum Belisaris. 

Ah ! give a cent to a Soldier of the nation. 

I drove the fierce legions from Lexington village, 

With arms, forg'd with zeal, from the ploughshares for tillage ; 

Gave our Country to hope— sav'd your houses from Pillage. 

At fani'd Bunker's Hill our best patriot's assembled, 
And thunder'd our vengeance till Tyranny trembled 
Then honor gave law, and none honor dissembled. 
At Monmouth, by day break, we all got in motion, 
And spik'd up their cannon, and spoil'd their devotion ; 
While the Rivers, all blood stain'd, ran scar'd to the ocean. 

At fam'd Saratoga, we Bubgotne confounded, 

Where even the Savage, look'd pale and astounded, 

But we play'd Yankey Doodle and had them surrounded. 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 49 

I was not born to follow Reason's track ; 
I, when I please, take Wisdom's sails aback : 
I, can teaze Pallas, on her mental throne ; 
In short, I'm, I — I am myself alone ! 

Then mouths, by myriads, bellow'd in the air, 
In one dire burst of horrible despair: 



At York Town, when France came, our rights to restore us. 
We made stout Cornwallis, for quarter implore us, 
While Tarltou-and he laid their swords down before us, 

I lost my right eye, in defending your glory : 

I lost my firm leg, in destroying a Tory : 

Then the air sung my praises, but that's an old story. 

Yonder Federal Lord who looks down so disdainful, 

Got his wealth, like a knave, from our tickets so gainful ; 

But Oblivion step in, for that thought is too painful. 

Are we born to do good, and that good to be hated 1 
Are we innately slaves, or with Liberty sated ? 
Why are heroes in trouble, by insolence bated ? 

What is man ? — what are rights, but a thing and a dream, Sir '! 
What is joy, but a flash, o'er the mind, like a gleam, Sir ? 
Who'd believe that I was, who could see what I seem, Sir ? 

With a heart that Ingratitude's cleft to the corp, Sir, 
With a spirit, that once you were proud to adore, Sir, 
I must wander, an Outcast, from door unto door, Sir. 

Oh, my God ! by whom all mortal woe is assuaged ; 

Who shelter'd the Lamb when fell cruelty raged ; 

Keep the pitiless storm from a head that's so aged ; 

For here I have curses and rags for my ration ; — Date obolum Belisaris. 

Ah give a cent to a Soldier of the nation ! A. P. 



50 THE HAMILTONIAD. 

The hideous yell of many tongues began, 
To call on Pity, like a prostrate clan : 
Thick as the miasm in the solar blaze ; 
Thick as the hands applaud, when Bernard plays ; 
Thick as glad mobs to see a storm-torn wreck : 
Thick as March-wafted dust on Boston neck : 
Thick as the questions in a crowded stage : 
Thick as the curses from a Priest, in rage : 
Thick as the insects flit in Ruin's flame : 
Thick as the slanders float round Honor's name : 
Thick as the rice-stalks in the damp savannah ; 
Thick as the Coxcombs buz round peerless Anna. 
While the malignant Passions urg'd their slaves, 
And Mercy frown'd upon the shudd'ring knaves. 
So many bosom-rending, heart-drawn sighs ; 
Such tides of mis'ry issuing from the eyes : 
Yet all for pride, and none for virtue given, 
Provok'd the vengeance of observing Heaven : 
Who breath'd, in ire, th' incontinent decree ; 
And bade their human powers cease to be. 
Swift as Aurora's gleam pervades the sky — 
Rapid as Malice bears th' envenom'd lie, 



THE HAMILTONIAD. 51 

T' ingulph the fated virtuous in despair — 
Fleet, as the livid Lightning cleaves the air : 
A sweeping Metamorphosis ensu'd, 
And chang'd the functions of the sniveling brood , 
Reptiles and Animals, bore Dicks and Neds, 
And shrunk (dishonor'd) with the souls of Feds I 
Ell — t, the egotist, (of largess bulk'd) 
Chang'd (not degraded) as a Mag-pie talk'd — ___ 
The belching Luther dwindled to a Leech, 
And Park a Gnat upon Apollo's breech — 
The Deadly Seven, who've pertinacious strove, 
To shut Connecticut from social love : 
Who stalk'd o'er Honor with tyrannic aims, 
Smote the scarr'd Soldier, and effac'd his claims ; 
Were turn'd in rav'nous Sharks, to nurture pain, 
And massacre weak Gudgeons in the main ; 

While, as their Pilot-fish, stern T y rode 

To snuff the scent, and lead them on to blood ! 
Hugh E — y was transmuted to a Mouse : 
Th' unmanner'd Beast of Groton to — a Louse: 
Ot — s, a Humming- Bird, on Daphne's tree, 
And kingly Rufus to a fleur de Lis : 



52 THE HAMILTOXIAD. 

D r, a hmts naturce in growth, 

Nor this, nor that, but something between both : 
H — lb — t, a Parrot, Vanity had caught, 
Prattling the obloquy, that Treason taught — 
Coleman a icatch-dog. Fallacy had gain'd. 
Eager to bark and fond of — being chain'd — 
Fezzy ('twas possible) became diminish' d 
To a Musquito, and the labour finish'd ! 
The rest were danin'd, in heaps, to endless pain, 
And Virtue took her station, once again ! 

THE FEDERAL EPITAPH. 

We were well: 
wolxd be better, 
And here we are! 

Heu, quam difficilis gloria custodia est .' 
Nosce Teipsum — .Bon soir, mon ami — Och hoan,och hoan .' 



NOTES. 



In other times, when the intolerant mother Church assumed a power over the 
temporal concerns of the laity, and dreaded an exposure of their malefactions, the 
saving axiom de mortuis nil nisi bonum was inserted in their monastic legends, as 
a significant memento to the Biographer and the Historian. For this doctrine we do 
not profess an implicit regard — if all who write of the dead, were to obey this man- 
date, the proud incentive to do right would lose much of its force, and the moral dig- 
nity of the christian hero, be confounded with the turpitude of an ungenerous 
ambition. A Mecenas and a Herod would be equally respected, and the beneficent 
and the malevolent be common strangers to infamy. 

In Europe, the characters of the conspicuous dead, were wholly dependent upon 
the will and prejudices of the sovereign, whatever might have been the pretensions 
of the individual under consideration. In Britain, they are not more tender towards 
the living, who may have the virtuous firmness to oppose the diabolism of the 
Premier. Under the present benign government of America, those fetters of the 
mind are not known ; the sedition Bill has been expunged with national execration, 
and the malversation of John Adams's tadpole nobility shall have no more quarter 
from us, than the mechanic or farmer, whom they spurn, and would put in chains, 
if they could procure another "reign of terror!" — Nay, start not, Old Lady of Ded- 
ham, the asseveration is just, and you shall be answerable for your arrogance and 
hypocrisy — you shall be tied upon the fatal wheel of your party, and made to repent 
in volumes of prayer, your offences to liberty and your country ; while Hume, in 
ghastly terror, is creeping to administer the royal unction ! 

It is difficult to ascertain by which extreme of action, the reputation of a public 
character suffers most, excessive censure or excessive praise. If the question was 



54 NOTES 

at issue before our imperfect judgment, we should not hesitate to declare, that a 
violent inadequacy of praise was the more pernicious — 

"Praise undeserved, is satire in disguise." 

Excessive censure will always bring the motives of the reviler into question, and 
can have but a limited effect with any, but the unthinking or malicious part of man- 
kin 1 ; as the virtuous and the intelligent avoid extremes, and even the partial effect 
it has produced, will die away before the progress of observation. But excessive 
praise leaves the images it forms, with a more indellible character, not subject to 
an increasing charity of opinion, but an increasing spirit of ridicule. This prefato- 
ry remark has forced itself upon our adoption, from perusing the various over- 
charged accounts, relating to this unfortunate gentleman. The several authors of 
these eulogies, seem to have vied with each other in the point of immoderation, so 
much, that an unbiassed reader in some future day will not precisely know whether 
it was originally intended that he should be merry or forlorn, at such a dispropor- 
tioned commixture of fury and fanaticism — of raving and melancholy ! Putting his 
absurd panegyrists aside, we shall cursorily investigate his pretensions to a high 
niche in the stations of fame, and cheerfully allot him as much honour as his memo- 
rial can legitimately endure. 

In extinguishing these rival blockheads, it is very far from our inclination to tread 
with rudeness over the ashes of Gen. Hamilton. We are not among the admirers 
of incivility towards the living, much less towards the dead ; but the floods of adula- 
tion, respecting his merits, have been so extravagant and so puerile, that the letter 
of truth has been nearly obliterated in the deluge. It is to restore that character, 
that we offer this brief commentary. We do not mean, in imitation of the writers 
among the Royal Faction, to expose the nakedness of his infirmities to the vulgar 
eye, because his political principles and ideas of civil right were in oppositon to our 
own; we wili not exhibit those lapses from virtue, as his exclusive imperfections, 
which are incidental to our frail agency — we will not dance around his urn, in 
brutal triumph, because the residuum it contains, was heretofore as much fraught 
with weakness as ourselves. Far be such conduct from our adoption — we disdain 
to pervert a discussion on departed merit, into a channel for the display of personal 
revenge against existing worth ; or, like that obsequious advocate for despotism, 
who edites the " Port Folio" meanly court a dirty tribute from the tyrants of the 
Old World, by uttering a coarse anathema against a greater man than himself, (Mr. 
Duane) whose offending towards the aristocracy, has been evinced in a constant re- 
gard for the liberties and felicity of his fellow-men. If this monarchical bigot should 
be disposed to walk among the tombs in future, we hope that he will suppress his 
native bitterness of spirit, and curb his ostentatious gesticulation. We have no ob- 
jection to his becoming an actor for the advancement of his fortune, but on so seri- 



NOTES. 55 

ous an occasion as the funeral of a friend, it ought to bear the aspect of a Sacred 
Drama, and not the Farce of a Party ! 

It is impossible to peruse the ensuing heterogeneous mingliDg of distorted encomi- 
um, self-congratulation and daring falsehoods, without a smile. The imagination 
may readily trace the foam of ire upon the lips of this royal zealot ; yet Mr. Cole- 
man calls it polished, and, agreeably to Mr. C.'s education, it may seem polite : but 
if this is polished, we know not where we can look for a rough and vulgar example. 
The rhetoric of billingsgate, and the snarling of Bavius, become charming and libe- 
ral on comparison ! — But personal scurrility is the only weapon of Anglo-federalism, 
and they are so familiarized to the prostitution of decency, that they may believe it 
is classical. The Hottentot does not sicken over his offals, though the rest of the 
world would. They have little wit and less breeding, and. if they are not scanda- 
lous, they are nothing ! — We will bring these erudite scavengers for the Aristoc- 
racy on the scene together, in the fondest embraces, like an affectionate dipthong ; 
or, like two kings of Bremtford, complimenting each other, and smelling at the same 
nosegay ! 

Our readers will necessarily perceive that the gentle Mr. Coleman is leading the 
gentle Mr. Dennie on the public stage, and recommending him as a monster of per- 
fection in literature. After this introductory assurance, Mr. D. presumes to aver, 
that all Philadelphia was so absorbed in tears, that the Schuylkill was elevated with 
the briny flood of pity ; and, excepting the naughty editor of the Aurora, every 
visage was, like Niobe, all tears ! The truth is, that the Clergy of all denomina- 
tions opposed every public manifestation of grief, and very few of the citizens, (as in 
Boston) troubled their heads about the affair ; but Mr. D. is a sort of a poet, and 
may lay claim to the Parnassian privilege of invention. 

"Mr. Dennie having determined to devote his whole paper to the subject, begins 
in the following elegant manner. This paragraph (says the Post) is from Mr. D.'s 
own polished hand — 

" With respect to the city at large, (Philadelphia) its grief has been, by no means 
limited in extent, or feeble in expression. Thrusting aside, as unworthy considera- 
tion, the rancorous Jacobin, the scoffing deist, the snivelling fanatic, and the im- 
ported scoundrel, we have heard the voice of deep lament from every side." 

The torrents of blasphemous trumpery, which have been exercised on this event, 
are of a nature so irrational, indecent and insulting, both to God and man, that, if 
the authors were in London, they would be incontinently chained down in Bedlam, 
as maniacs who had been caricaturing the attributes, and challenging the mercy of 
Heaven ! — Would not a straight waistcoat, a dark room, clean straw, and emollient 
correctives, be necessary for the writers and promulgators of the following dreadful 
and disgusting trash ? 



56 NOTES. 

" How sad we mourn his loss, how deep deplore, 
Our brightest star, that's set to rise no more. 
'Till the last trump shall sound on that great day, 
When Hamilton — disrob'd of mortal clay, 
At God's right hand shall sit with face benign, 
And at his m r cast a look divine. 

"Were I asked, (says an apologist,) whether Gen. Hamilton had vices; in the 
face of the world, in the presence of my God, / would answer, no !" 

"0! America! veil thyself in black — the withered hand trembles in grief— the 
youthful patriots mourn — their chief is fallen ! — haste ! — even now he bleeds ! — he 
dies '. — catch the stream that flows from his mighty heart, and pour it in thy veins ! 
— Ye hosts of Heaven, assemble thy chosen choir — croud round the celestial throne 
— raise loud the song of glory— send forth its souud on golden clarions.— Behold, a 
Washington and a Hamilton, again in gladness and in triumph meet. — " 

" He has made a chasm which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has 
a tendency to fill up — Hamilton is dead — Let us go to the next best — There is no 
body — No man can be said to put you in mind of Hamilton." — " The pomp of fune- 
ral honours now canonizes and sanctifies a character which it was the purpose of 
Washington in one of the last acts of his life to record above all others." 

Here are some novel instances of the sublime, of which Longinus, Despreaux, 
or Edmund Burke never dreamed. — One commands the public lo open their veins 
and pour in Mr. Hamilton's blood — another swears he has made s-uch a chasm, which 
not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has even a tendency to fill up ! — 
This wonderful assertion might make Horace wonder. Here the abstruse question 
of philosophy, about the possibility of a void in nature, is settled by one dash of the 
pen — " Let us go to the next best," continues this blubbering Federalist, " and there 
is nobody .'" — Who this snivelling gentleman means to designate by "•nobody' 1 '' we 
cannot pretend to guess, as it is applicable to so many of his party ; yet to call the 
"next best" nobody, smacks methinks more of sincerity, than civility; and the 
force of the adage, that the truth should not be spoken at all times, is against his 
prudence, if it will not reduce his authority. 

Nor this nor that, they Nobody should call, 
Th' elastic character so fits them all ! 

The propensity which has been evinced, by Gen. Hamilton's very absurd flatter- 
ers, (as they cannot be called friends) to give a theatrical bias and aspect to all that 
has been done since his premature decease, and even previous to his expiring, has 
been instrumentally fatal to the honest dignity of his character. They have infused 



NOTES. 57 

an extravagance in their solemnities and expressions, which were inconsistent with 
the sober morals of our nation, and made them participate more closely with a pagan 
procession thau christian rites. The whole of Mr. Gouverxeur Morris's language 
and conduct, on the day appointed for the interment of this unhappy gentleman, 
was singularly ridiculous, and, s<> far as it respected the interests of religion, ex- 
tremely injurious. What could be more preposterous than to behold, in a Christian 
city, and on the threshold of a Christian temple, a man of fashion bestriding the 
dead body of his once gallant frienu. and in the ardent labour of imitating Mark 
Atiiony's blubbering appeal to the passions of a Roman mob? If the motive for 
this extraordinary conduct was to swell the posthumous reputation of the deceased, 
the probable consequences could not be in unison with such a desire. If it was to 
inflame the bosoms of the citizens against the surviving party, it was cruel and un- 
justifiable in its application, inasmuch as it was creating a prejudgment upon the 
lamented proceeding, and pointing forth a victim for popular hatred, before the pub- 
lic law had substantiated the criminality. But. whatever might be the inducement 
which actuated Mr. Morris, we cannot avoid reprobating the mode in which it was 
enforced. It seemed as the practical display of speculation on the result of general 
feeling, and wholly incompatible as to time, place, and manner, with the demands 
of justice, the decorum of religion, and the honorable recollection of the meritorious 
subject of his exertions — We can believe them to be sincere, when they deplore 
their particular loss, in a gentleman of so much ability and influence, but cannot 
deem them as wise or liberal, when they make their lamentations at the expense of 
truth, as it respects him, and charity as it respects others. 

We have solid evidence to believe that Mi . Hamilton wished to introduce an es- 
tablished church in the United States, and so intertwine it with the Government, as 
to form that odious monster in confederation called the Church and State interest, 
which has proved so baneful to religious liberty in every part of the world where 
the accursed establishment has been admitted. It was the intolerable persecution 
arising from this anti-christian system, which drove our ancestors from their native 
shore, to see 1 ; a more generous asylum among the savages of the New World. That 
Gen. Hamilton's religious prejudices were in favour of the establishment of an hie- 
rarchy, in America, we can have no doubt, from the manner of his confession previ- 
ous to his dissolution : he then seriously committed the guidance of his departing sou 
to a Bishop, who is an officer generally partaking more of temporal pomp than holy 
purity ; armed with the imposing insignaj of a crozier, mitre, lawn sleeves, silk 
toga, and all those gorgeous mummeries appertaining to thepontific family, which are 
so tributary to worldly grandeur, and so remote from the simple, primitive apostolic 
character. For the sacred and awful purposes of a death-bed arrangement, we think 
that an unadorned Pastor would have been as propitious. He would have recom- 



58 NOTES. 

mended his fluttering spirit to the throne of mercy, as effectually as the Ld. Cardi- 
nal, or the Ld. Bishop, or any other Spiritual Lord, as they proudly and imperi- 
ously denominate themselves : but M'\ Hamilton thought iu a contrary sense, and 
he carried his veneration for the Aristocracy to the mortal bourne ! 

The following is the correspondence that passed between General Hamilton and 
Colonel Burr, together with an explanation of the conduct, motives and views of 
General Hamilton, written with his own hand the evening before the meeting took 
place, and only to have been seen in the deporable event that followed. 

No. 1. 

New York, June 18, 1804. 
SIR, 
I send for your perusal a letter signed Charles D. Cooper, which, though apparently 
published some time ago, has but very recently come to my knowledge. Mr. Van 
Ness who does me the favor to deliver this, will point out to you that clause of the 
letter to which I particulary request your attention. 

You must perceive, Sir, the necessity of a prompt and unqualified acknowledge- 
ment or denial of the use of any expression which would warrant the assertions of 

Dr. Cooper. 

I have the honor to be, 

Your Obedient Ser't, 

A. BURR. 
General Hamilton. 

No. 2. 

New York, June 20th, 1804. 
SIR; 
I have maturely reflected on the subject of your letter of the 18th instant, and the 
more I have reflected, the more I have become convinced that I could not without 
manifest impropriety make the avowal or disavowel which you seem to think 
necessary. The clause pointed out by Mr. Van Ness is in these terms, " I could 
detail to you a still more despicable opinion which Hamilton has expressrd of Mr. 
Burr." To endeavor to discover the meaning of tbis declaration. I was obliged to 
seek in the antecedent part of this letter for the opinion to which it referred, as hav- 
ing been already disclosed: I found it in these words, "General Hamilton and 
Judge Kent have declared in substance, that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a 
dangerous man and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of govern- 
ment." 

The language of Doctor Cooper plainly implies, that he considered this opinion of 
you, which he attributes to me, as a despicable one, but he affirms that I have ex- 
pressed some other, still more despicable ; without however, mentioning to whom, 
when, or where. 'Tis evident that the phrase " still more despicable" admits of in- 



NOTES. 59 

finite shades from very light to very dark. How am I to judge of the degree in- 
tended ? or how shall I annex any precise idea to language so indefinite ? 

Between Gentlemen, despicable and more despicable are not worth the pains of 
a distinction : when therefore you do not interrogate me. as to the opinion which is 
specifically ascribed to me, I must conclude, that you view it as within the limits to 
which the animadversions of political opponents upon each other may justifiably ex- 
tend, and consequently as not warranting the idea of it which Doctor Cooper ap- 
pears to entertain. If so, what precise inference could you draw, as a guide for your 
conduct, were I to acknowledge that I had expressed an opinion of you still more des- 
picable than the one which is particularised? How could you be sure that even 
this opinion had exceeded the bounds which you would yourself deem admissible be- 
tween political opponents? 

But I forbear further comment on the embarrassment, to which the requisition you 
have made naturally leads. The occasion forbids a more ample illustration, though 
nothing could be more easy than to pursue it. 

Repeating that I cannot reconcile it with propriety to make the acknowledgement 
or denial you desire, I will add that I deem it inadmissible on principle, to consent to 
be interrogated as to the justness of the inferences which may be drawn by others 
from whatever I may have said of a political opponent in the course of a fifteen years 
competition. If there were no other objection to it this is sufficient, that it would 
tend to expose my sincerity and delicacy to injurious imputations from every person 
who may at any time have conceived the import of my expressions, differently from 
what I may then have intended or may afterwards recollect. I stand ready to 
avow or disavow promptly and explicitly any precise or definite opinion which I 
may be charged with having declared of any gentleman. More than this cannot 
fitly be expected from me ; and especially it cannot be reasonably expected that I 
shall enter into an explanation upon a basis so vague as that which you have 
adopted. I trust on more reflection you will see the matter in the same light with 
me. If not, I can only regret the circumstance, and must abide the consequences. 

The publication of Doctor Cooper was never seen by me, till after the receipt of 
your letter. 

I have the honour to be, &c. 

A. HAMILTON. 
Col. Burr. 

No. 3. 

New-York.1\st June, 1804. 
SIR, 

Your letter of the 20th instant has been this day received. Having considered it 
attentively I regret to find in it nothing of that sincerity and delicacy which you 
profess to value. 

8 



60 



NOTES. 



Political opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity of a rigid 
adherence to the laws of honor, aDd the rules of decorum. 1 neither claim such 
privilege nor indulge it in others. 

The common sense of mankind affixes to the epithet adopted by Dr. Cooper, the 
idea of dishonor. It has been publicly applied to me under the sanction of your name. 
The question is not, whether he has understood the meaning of the word, or has used 
it according to syntax, and with grammatical accuracy ; but, whether you have 
authorised this application, either directly or by uttering expressions or opinions 
derogatory to my honor. The time " when " is in your own knowledge, but no way 
material to me. as the calumny has now first been disclosed, so as to become the 
subject of my notice, and as the effect is present and palpable. 

Your letter has furnished me with new reasons for requiring a definite reply. 

I have the honor to be, 

Sir, your obedient, 

A. BURR. 
General Hamilton. 



On Saturday the 22d June, Gen. Hamilton for the first time called on Mr. P. and 
communicated to him the preceding correspondence. He informed him that in a 
conversation with Mr. V. N. at the time of receiving the last letter, he told Mr.Y. X. 
that he considered that letter as rude and offensive, and that it was not possible for 
him to give it any other answer than that Mr. Burr must take such steps as he 
might think proper. He said farther, that Mr. V. N. requested him to take time to 
deliberate, and then return an answer, when he might possibly entertain a different 
opinion, and that he would call on him to receive it. That his reply to Mr. V. X. 
was, that he did not perceive it possible for him to give any other answer than that 
he had mentioned, unless Mr. Burr would take back his last letter and write one 
which would admit of a different reply. He then gave Mr. P. the letter hereafter 
mentioned of the 22d of June, to be delivered to Mr. V. X. when he should call on 
Mr. P. for an answer, and went to his country house. 

The next day General Hamilton received, while there, the following letter. 



No 4. 

June 23, 1804. 
SIR, 

In the afternoon of yesterday, I reported to Col. Burr the result of my last inter- 
view with you, and appointed the evening to receive his further instructions. Some 
private engagements, however, prevented me from calling on him till this morning. 



NOTES. 61 

On my return to this city I found upon enquiry, both at your office and house, that 

you had returned to your residence in the country. Lest an interview there might 

be less agreeable to you than elsewhere, I have taken the liberty of addressing you 

this note to enquire when and where it will be most convenient to you to receive a 

communication. 

Your most obdt. and very humble servt. 

W. P. VAX NESS. 
General Hamilton. 



Mr. P understood from General Hamilton that he immediately answered, 

that if the communication was pressing he would receive it at his Country House 
that day, if not, he would be at his house in town the next morning at nine o'clock. 
But he did not give Mr. P. any copy of this note. 



No. 5. 

Neva-York, June 22, 1504. 
SIB, 

Your first letter, in a style too peremptory, made a demand, in my opinion, un- 
precedented and unwarrantable. My answer, pointing out the embarrassment, gave 
you an opportunity to take a less exceptionable course. You have not chosen to do 
it, but by your last letter received this day. containing expressions indecorous and 
improper, you have increased the difficulties to explanation intrinsically incident to 
the nature of your application. 

If by a " definite reply," you mean the direct avowal or disavowal required in 
your first letter, I have no other answer to give, than that which has already been 
given. If you mean any thing different, admitting of greater latitude, it is requi- 
site you should explain. 

I have the honor to be, 

Sir, your obedient servant, 

ALEX. HAMILTON. 
Aaron Burr, Esq. 

This letter, although dated on the 22d June, remained in Mr. P.'s possession until 
the 25th, within which period he had several conversations witli Mr. V. X. In these 
conversations Mr. P. eudeavored to illustrate and enforce the propriety of the 
ground General Hamilton had taken. Mr. P. mentioned to Mr V. X. as the re- 
sult, that if Col. Burr would write a letter, requesting to know in substance whether 
in the conversation to which Dr Cooper alluded, any particular instance of dis- 
honorable conduct was imputed to Col. Burr, or whether there was any impeach- 



62 NOTES. 

ment of his private '•haracter, G. Hamilton would declare to the best of his recol- 
lection what passed in that conversation : and Mr. P. read to Mr. V. N. a paper 
containing the substance of what Gen. H. would say on that subject, which is as 
follows : 

No. 6. 

" General Hamilton says he cannot imagine to what Dr. Cooper may have alluded 
unless it were to a conversation at Mr. Taylor's, in Albany, last winter (at which Mr. 
Taylor, he, and General H. were present). G. Hamilton cannot recollect distinctly 
the particulars of that conversation so as to undertake to repeat them, without run- 
ning the risk of varying, or omitting what might be deemed important circum- 
stances. The expressions are entirely forgotten, and the specific ideas imperfectly 
remembered ; but to the best of his recollection it consisted of comments on the 
political principles and views of Col. Burr and the results that might be expected 
from them in the event of his election as Governor, without reference to any par- 
ticular instance of past conduct, or to private character." 

After the delivery of the Letter of the 22d, as above mentioned : in another inter- 
view with Mr. V. X. he desired Mr. P. to give him in writing the substance of what 
he had proposed on the part of General Hamilton, which Mr. P. did in the words 
following : 

Xo. 7. 

" In answer to a letter properly adapted to obtain from General Hamilton a 
declaration whether he had charged Col. Burr with any particular instance of 
dishonorable conduct, or had impeached his private character, either in the conver- 
sation alluded to by Dr. Cooper, or in any other particular instance to be specified. 

He would be able to answer consistently with his honor, and the truth, in sub- 
stance, that the conversation to which Dr. Cooper alluded, turned wholly on politi- 
cal topics, and did not attribute to Col. Burr any instance of dishonorable conduct, 
nor relate to his private character ; and in relation to any other language or conver- 
sation of General H. which Col. Burr will spec'fy, a prompt and frank avowal or 
denial will be given." 

On the 26th June Mr. P. received the following letter : 



Xo. 8. 
SIR, 

The letter which you yesterday delivered me and your subsequent communica- 
tion, in Col. Burr's opinion evince no disposition on the part of Gen. Hamilton to 



NOTES. 



63 



come to a satisfactory accommodation. The injury complained of and the repara- 
tion expected, are so definitely expressed in Col. Burr's letter of the 21st instant, 
that there is not perceived a necessity for further explanation on his part. Th>; 
difficulty that would result from confining the enquiry to any particular time3 and 
occasions must be manifest. The denial of a specified conversation only, would 
leave strong implications that on other occasions improper language had been used. 
— When and where injurious opinions and expressions have been uttered by General 
Hamilton must be best known to him, and of him only will Col. Burr enquire. No 
denial or explanation will be satisfactory, unless it be general, so as wholly to ex- 
clude the idea that rumours derogatory to Col. Burr's honor have originated with 
General Hamilton or have been fairly inferred from any thing he has said. A 
definite reply to a requisition of this nature was demanded by Col. Burr's letter of 
the 21st instant. This being refused invites the alternative alluded to in General 
Hamilton's letter of the 20th. 

It was required by the position in which the controversy was placed by Genl. 
Hamilton on Friday last, and I was immediately furnished with a communication 
demanding a personal interview. The necessity of this measure has not in the 
opinion of Col. Burr been diminished by the General's last letter, or any communi- 
cation which has since been received. I am consequently again instructed to deliver 
you a message, as soon as it may be convenient for you to receive it. I beg there- 
fore you will be so good as to inform me at what hour I can have the pleasure of 

seeing you. 

Your most obedient and 

very humble servt. 

W. P. VAX NESS. 
Nathaniel Pendleton, Esq. 

June 26th. 



No. 9. 

26th June, 1604. 
SIR, 

I have communicated the letter which you did me the honor to write to me of this 
date to Gen. Hamilton. The expectations now disclosed on the part of Col. Burr 
appear to him to have greatly extended the original ground of enquiry, and instead 
of presenting a particular and definite case for explanation seem to aim at nothing 
less than an inquisition into his most confidential conversations, as well as others, 
through the whole period of his acquaintance with Col. Burr. 

While ke was prepared to meet the particular case fairly and fully, he thinks it 
inadmissible that he should be expected to answer at large as to every thing that he 
may possibly have said, in relation to the character of Col. Burr, at any time or 



64 



NOTES. 



upon any occasion. Though he is not conscious that any charges which are in cir- 
culation to the prejudice of Col. Burr have originated with him, except one which 
may have been so considered, and which has long since been fully explained between 
Col. Burr and himself — yet he cannot consent to be questioned generally as to any 
rumours which may be afloat derogatory to the character of Col. Burr without spe- 
cification of the several rumours, many of them probably unknown to him. He does 
not however mean to authorise any conclusion as to the real nature of his conduct 
in relation to Col. Burr, by his declining so loose and vague a basis of explanation, 
and he disavows an unwillingness to come to a satisfactory, provided it be an 
honourable, accommodation. His objection is, the very indefinite ground which 
Col. Burr has assumed, in which he is sorry to be able to discern nothing short of 
predetermined hostility. Presuming, therefore, that it will be adhered to, he has 
instructed me to receive the message which you have it in charge to deliver. For 
this purpose I shall be at home and at your command to-morrow morning from 
eight to ten o'clock. 

I have the honour to be respectfully 

your obedt. servt. 

NATHANIEL PENDLETON. 
William P. Van Ness, Esq. 

No. 10. 
SIR, 

The letter which I had the honour to receive from you, under date of yesterday, 
states, among other things, that in General Hamilton's opinion, Colonel Burr has 
taken a very indefinite ground, in which he evinces nothing short of predetermined 
hostility, and that General Hamilton thinks it inadmissible that the inquiry should 
extend to his confidential as well as other conversations. In this, Col. Burr can 
only reply, that secret whispers traducing his fame, and impeaching his honour, are, 
at least, equally injurious with slanders publicly uttered ; that Gen. H. had, at no 
time, and in no place, a right to use any such injurious expressions ; and that the 
partial negative he is disposed to give, with the reservations he wishes to make, are 
proofs that he has done the injury specified. 

Col. Burr's request was, in the first instance, proposed in a form the most simple, 
in order that Gen. Hamilton might give to the affair that course to which he might 
be induced by his temper and his knowledge of facts. Col. Burr trusted with con- 
fidence, that from the frankness of a soldier and the candour of a gentleman, he 
might expect an ingenuous declaration. That if, as he had reason to believe, Gen. 
H. had used expressions derogatory to his honor, he would have had the mag- 
nanimity to retract them ; and that if, from his language, injurious inferences had 



NOTES. 65 

been improperly drawn, he would have perceived the propriety of correcting errors 
which might thus have been widely diffused. With these impressions, Col. Burr 
was greatly surprised at receiving a letter which he considered as evasive, and 
which in manner he deemed not altogether decorous. In one expectation, however, 
he was not wholly deceived, for the close of Gen. Hamilton's letter contained an in- 
timation that if Col. Burr should dislike his refusal to acknowledge or deny, he was 
ready to meet the consequences. This Col. Burr deemed a sort of defiance, and 
would have felt justified in making it the basis of an immediate message. But as 
the communication contained something concerning the indefiniteness of the request ; 
as he believed it rather the offspring of false pride than of reflection, and as he felt 
the utmost reluctance to proceed to extremities, while any other hope remained, his 
request was repeated on terms more explicit. The replies and propositions on the 
part of Gen. Hamilton have in Col. Burr's opinion been constantly in substance 
the same. 

Col. Burr disavows all motives of predetermined hostility, a charge by which he 
thinks insult added to injury — He feels as a gentleman should feel when his honor 
is impeached or assailed, and without sensations of hostility or wishes of revenge, 
he is determined to vindicate that honor at such hazard as the nature of the 
case demands. 

The length to which this correspondence has extended, only tending to prove 

that the satisfactory redress, earnestly desired, cannot be obtained, he deems it 

useless to offer any proposition except the simple message which I shall now have 

the honor to deliver. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

Your obedient and very humble servant, 

W. P. VAN NESS. 
Wednesday morning, June 27th, 1804. 

With this letter, a message was received, such as was to be expected, containing 
an invitation, which was accepted, and Mr. P. informed Mr. V. N. he should hear 
from him the next day as to further particulars. 

This letter was delivered to Gen. H. on the same evening, and a very short con- 
versation ensued between him and Mr. P. who was to call on him early the next 
morning for a further conference. When he did so, Gen. Hamilton said he had not 
understood whether the message and answer was definitively concluded, or whether 
another meeting was to take place for that purpose between Mr. P. and Mr. V. N. 
Under the latter impression, and as the last letter contained matter that naturally 
led to animadversion, he gave Mr. P. a paper of remarks in his own hand writing, to 
be communicated to Mr. V. N. if the state of the affair rendered it proper. 



DO NOTES. 

In the farther interview with Mr. V. N. that day, after explaining the causes 
which had induced Gen. Hamilton to suppose that the state of the affair did not render 
it improper, he offered this paper to Mr. V. N. — but he declined receiving it, alledg- 
ing, that he considered the correspondence as closed by the acceptance of the mes- 
sage that he had delivered. 

Mr. P. informed Mr. V. N. of the inducements mentioned by General Hamilton 
in those remarks, for the postponing the meeting until the close of the Circuit ; and 
as this was uncertain, Mr. P. was to let him know when it would be convenient. 

On Friday the 6th of July, the Circuit being closed, Mr. P. gave this information, 
and that Gen. Hamilton would be ready at any time after the Sunday following. On 
Monday the particulars were arranged, and the public are but too well acquainted 
with the sad result. 



The paper above alluded to is as follows : 

No. 11. 
Remarks on the letter of June 27, 1804. 

Whether the observations on this letter are designed merely to justify the result 
which is indicated in the close of the letter, or may be intended to give an open- 
ing for rendering any thing explicit which may have been deemed vague heretofore, 
can only be judged of by the sequel. At any rate it appears to me necessary not to 
be misunderstood. Mr. Pendleton is therefore authorised to say that in the course of 
the present discussion, written or verbal, there has been no intention to evade, defy 
or insult, but a sincere disposition to avoid extremities if it could be done with pro- 
priety. With this view Gen. H. has been ready to enter into a frank and free expla- 
nation on any and every object of a specific nature ; but not to answer a 
general and abstract inquiry, embracing a period too long for any accurate recollec- 
tion, and exposing him to unpleasant criticisms from or unpleasant discussions with 
any and every person, who may have understood him in an unfavorable 
sense. This (admitting that he could answer in a manner the most satisfactory to 
Col. Burr) he should deem inadmissible, in principle and precedent, and humil- 
iating in practice. To this therefore he can never submit. Frequent allusion has 
been made to slanders said to be in circulation. Whether they are openly or in 
whispers they have a form and shape, and might be specified. 

If the alternative alluded to in the close of the letter is definitively tendered it 
must be accepted ; the time, place and manner to be afterwards regulated. I should 
not think it right in the midst of a Circuit Court to withdraw my services from 
those who may have confided important interests to me, and expose them to the em. 



NOTES. 67 

barrassment of seeking other counsel, who may not have time to be sufficiently 
instructed in their cause. I shall also want a little time to make some arrangements 
respecting my own affairs. 

The following paper, in the hand writing of Gen. Hamilton, was inclosed with his 
will and some other papers in a packet addressed to one of his executors, which was 
of course not to have been delivered but in case of the event that happened. As it 
contains his motives and reflections on the causes that have led to this fatal catas- 
trophe it is deemed proper to communicate it to the public. 

No. 12. 

On my expected interview with Col. Burr, I think it proper to make some remarks 
explanatory of my conduct, motives and views. 
I was certainly desirous of avoiding this interview for the most cogent reasons. 

1. My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to the practice of duel- 
ling, and it would ever give me pain to be obliged to shed the blood of a fellow crea- 
ture in a private combat forbidden by the laws. 

2. My wife and children are extremely dear to me, and my life is of the utmost 
importance to them, in various views. 

3. I feel a sense of obligation towards my creditors ; who in case of accident to 
me, by the forced sale of my property, may be in some degree sufferers. I did not 
think myself at liberty as a man of probity, lightly to expose them to this hazard. 

4. I am conscious of no ill will to Col. Burr, distinct from political opposition, 
which, as I trust, has proceeded from pure and upright motives. 

Lastly, I shall hazard much, and can possibly gain nothing by the issue of the in- 
terview. 

But it was, as I conceive, impossible for me to avoid it. There were intrinsic!* 
difficulties in the thing, and artificial embarrassments, from the manner of pro- 
ceeding on the part of Col. Burr. 

Intrinsick, because it is not to be denied, that my animadversions on the political 
principles, character and views of Col. Burr, have been extremely severe, and on 
different occasions, I, in common with many others, have made very unfavorable 
criticisms on particular instances of the private conduct of this gentleman. 

In proportion as these impressions were entertained with sincerity and uttered 
with motives and for purposes, which might appear to me commendable, would be 
the difficulty (until they could be removed by evidence of their being erroneous) of 
explanation or apology. The disavowal required of me by Col. Burr, in a general 
and indefinite form, was out of my power, if it had really been proper for me to 
submit to be so questioned ; but I was sincerely of opinion, that this could not be, 

9 



68 NOTES. 

and iu this opinion, I was confirmed by that of a very moderate and judicious friend 
whom I consulted. Besides that Col. Burr appeared to me to assume, in the first 
instance, a tone unnecessarily peremptory and menacing, and in the second, posi- 
tively offensive. Yet I wished, as far as might be practicable, to leave a door open 
to accommodation. This, I think, will be inferred from the written communications 
made by me and by my direction, and would be confirmed by the conversations be- 
tween Mr. Van Ness and myself, which arose out of the subject. 

I am not sure, whether, under all the circumstances, I did not go further in the 
attempt to accommodate, than a punctilious delicacy will justify. If so, I hope the 
motives I have stated will excuse me. 

It is not my design, by what I have said to affix any odium on the conduct of Col. 
Burr, in this case — He doubtless has heard of animadversions of mine which bore 
very hard upon him ; and it is probable that as usual they were accompanied with 
some falshoods. He may have supposed himself under a necessity of acting as he 
has done, I hope the grounds of his proceeding have been such as ought to satisfy 
his own conscience. 

I trust, at the same time, that the world will do me the justice to believe, that I 
have not censured him on light grounds, nor from unworthy inducements. I cer- 
tainly have had strong reasons for what I may have said, though it is possible that in 
some particulars, I may have been influenced by misconstruction or misinformation. 
It is also my ardent wish that I may have been more mistaken than I think I have 
been, and that he, by his future conduct, may shew himself worthy of all confidence 
and esteem, and prove an ornament and blessing to the country. 

As well because it is possible that I may have injured Col. Burr, however con- 
vinced myself that my opinions and declarations have been well founded, as from 
my general principles and temper in relation to similar affairs — I have resolved, if 
our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the 
opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of 
reserving my second fire — and thus giving a double opportunity to Col. Burr to 
pause and reflect. 

It is not, however, my intention to enter into any explanations on the ground — 
Apology, from principle, I hope, rather than pride, is out of the question. 

To those, who, with me, abhorring the practice of duelling may think that I 
ought on no account to have added to the number of bad examples, I answer that 
ray relative situation, as well in public as private enforcing a'l the considerations 
which constitute what men of the world denominate honor, imposed en me (as I 
thought) a peculiar necessity not to decline the call. The ability to be in future 
useful, whether in resisting nrschief or effecting good, in those crises of our public 
affairs, which seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable from a con- 
formity with public prejudice in this particular. 

A. H. 



NOTES. 69 

The fatal interview took place at Hoboken ferry, in New- Jersey, on the 11th of 
July, 1804 — General Hamilton was unfortunately wounded mortally, at the first 
shot — He was removed to Mr. Bayard's at Greenwich, where he expired in lamented 
agonies — the ball had touched the spine, and a paralysis, preceded his death. 



The following letter was written by the Right Reverend Bishop Moore : 

Thursday Evening, July 12, 1804. 

" THE public mind being extremely agitated by the melancholy fate of that great 
man, Alexander Hamilton, I have thought it would be grateful to my fellow- 
citizens, would provide agaiost misrepresentation, and, perhaps, be conducive to 
the advancement of the cause of Religion, were I to give a narrative of some facts 
which have fallen under my own observation, during the time which elapsed be- 
tween the fatal duel and his departure out of this world. 

" Yesterday morning, immediately after he was brought from Hoboken to the 
house of Mr. Bayard, at Greenwich, a message was sent, informing me of the sad 
event, accompanied by a request from General Hamilton, that I would come to him 
for the purpose of administering the holy communion. I went — but being desirous 
to afford time for serious reflection, and conceiving that under existing circum- 
stances, it would be right and proper to avoid every appearance of precipitancy in 
performing one of the most solemn offices of our religion, 1 did not then comply with 
his desire. At one o'clock I was again called on to visit him. Upon my entering 
the room and approaching his bed, with the utmost calmness and composure he 
said, " My dear Sir, you perceive my unfortunate situation, and no doubt have been 
made acquainted with the circumstances which led to it. It is my desire to receive 
the communion at your hands. I hope you will not conceive that there is any im- 
propriety in my request." He added, " It has for some time past been the wish of 
my heart, and it was my intention to take an early opportunity of uniting myself to 
the church, by the reception of that holy ordinance. I observed to him that he 
must be very sensible of the delicate and trying situation in which I was then 
placed ; that however desirous I might be to afford consolation to a fellow-mortal in 
distress ; still, it was my duty, as a minister of the gospel, to hold up the law of God 
as paramount to all other law ; and that, therefore, under the influence of such 
sentiments, I must unequivocally condemn the practice which had brought him to 
his present unhappy condition. He acknowledged the propriety of these sentiments, 
and declared that he viewed the late transaction with sorrow and contrition. I then 
asked him, " Should it please God to restore you to health, Sir, will you never be 
engaged in a similar transaction? and will you employ all your influence in society 



70 



NOTES. 



to discountenance this barbarous custom ?" His answer was, " That, Sir, is my 
deliberate intention." 

"I proceeded to converse with him on the subject of his receiving the Com- 
munion ; and told him that with respect to the qualifications of those who wished 
to become partakers of that holy ordinance, my enquiries could not be made in 
language more expressive than that which was used by our Church—" Do you sin- 
cerely repent of your sins past? Have you lively faith in God's mercy through 
Christ, with a thankful remembrance of the death of Christ ? And are you disposed 
to live in love and charity with all men ?" He lifted up his hands and said, " With 
the utmost sincerity of heart I can answer these questions in the affirmative — I have 
no ill will against Col. Burr, I met him with a fixed resolution to do him no harm— 

1 forgive all that happened." I then observed to him, that the terrors of the divine 
law were to be announced to the obdurate and impenitent ; but that the consolations 
of the gospel were to be offered to the humble and contrite heart ; that I had no 
reason to doubt his sincerity, and would proceed immediately to gratify his wishes. 
The Communion was then administered which he received with great devotion, and 
his heart afterwards appeared to be perfectly at rest. I saw him again this morn- 
ing, when with his last faultering words he expressed a ttrong confidence in the 
mercy of God through the intercession of the Redeemer. I remained with him until 

2 o'clock this afternoon, when death closed the awful scene — he expired without a 
struggle, and almost without a groan. 

" By reflecting on this melancholy event, let the humble believer be encouraged 
ever to hold fast that precious faith which is the only source of true consolation in 
the last extremity of nature. Let the Infidel be persuaded to abandon his opposi- 
tion to the gospel which the strong, inquisitive, and comprehensive mind of a 
Hamilton embraced in his last moments, as the truth from Heaven. Let those 
who are disposed to justify the practice of duelling, be Induced, by this simple narra- 
tive, to view with abhorrence that custom which has occasioned an irreparable loss 
to a worthy and most afflicted family ; which has deprived his friends of a beloved 
companion, his profession of one of its brightest ornaments, and his country of a great 
statesman and a real patriot." 

(These ideas belong to Bishop Moore.) 



FUNERAL OBSEQUIES.— On the 14th of July the remains of Alexandbr 
Hamilton were committed to the grave with proper marks of respect. 

On a stage erected in the portico of Trinity Church, Mr. Gouverneur Morris, hav- 
ing four of General Hamilton's sons, the eldebt about sixteen and the youngest about 



NOTES. 71 

8ix years of age, with him, delivered to the immense concourse in front, the follow- 
ing Oration : 

Fellow-Citizens, 

If on this sad, this solemn occasion, I should endeavor to move your commisera- 
tion, it would be doing injustice to that sensibility, which has been so generally 
and so justly manifested Far from attempting to excite your emotions I must try 
to repress my own. and yet I fear that instead of the language of a public speaker, 
you will hear only the lamentations of a bewailing friend. But I will stru?gle with 
my bursting heart, to pourtray that heroic spirit, which has flown t > the mansions 
of bliss. 

Students of Columbia — he was in the ardent pursuit of knowledge in your 
academic shades, when the first sound of the American war called him to the field. 
A young and unprotected volunteer, such was his zeal and so brilliant his service 
that we heard his name before we knew his person. It seemed as if God had sud- 
denly called him into existence, that he might assist to save a world ! 

The penetratiog eye of Washington soon perceived the manly spirit which animated 
his youthful bosom. By that excellent judge of men he was selected as an Aid, and 
thus he became early acquainte i with and was a principal actor in the most im- 
portant scenes of our Revolution. 

At the seige of York, he pertinaciously insisted — and he obtained the command of 
a forlorn hope. He stormed the redoubt ; but let it be recorded that not one single 
man of the enemy perished. His gallant troops emulating the heroism of their chief, 
checked the uplifted arm, and spared a foe no longer resisting Here closed his 
military career. 

Shortly after the war, your favor no, your discernment called him to public 

office. You sent him to the Convention at Philadelphia : he there assisted in form- 
ing that Constitution which is now the bond of our union, the shield of our defence 
and the source of our prosperity. In signing that compact he exprest his appre- 
hension that it did not contain sufficient means of strength for its own preservation ; 
and that in consequence we should share the fate of many other republics and pass 
through anarchy to despotism. We hoped better things. We confided in the good 
sense of the American people ; and above all we trusted in the protecting Providence 
of the Almighty. On this important subject he never concealed his opinion. He 
disdained concealment. Knowing the purity of his heart, he bore it as it were in 
his hand, exposing to every passenger its inmost recesses. The generous indis- 
cretion subjected him to censure from misrepresentation. His speculative opinions 
were treated as deliberate designs ; and yet you all know how strenuous, how un- 
remitting were his efforts to establish and to preserve the Constitution. If, then, his 



72 



NOTES 



opinion was wrong, pardon, oh ! pardon that single error, in a life devoted to your 
service. 

At the time when our government was organized, we were without funds, though 
not without resources. To call them into action, and establish order in the finances, 
Washington sought for splendid talents, for extensive information, and above all, 
he sought for sterling, incorruptible integrity— All these he found in Hamilton.— 
The system then adopted has been the subject of much animadversion. If it be not 
without a fault, let it be remembered that nothing human is perfect— Recollect the 
circumstances of the moment — recollect the conflict of opinion— and above all, re- 
member that the minister of a republic must bend to the will of the people. The 
administration which Washington formed, was one of the most efficient, one of the 
best that any country was ever blest with. And the result was a rapid advance in 
power and prosperity, of which there is no example in any other age or nation. The 
part which Hamilton bore is universally known. 

His unsuspecting confidence in professions which he believed to be sincere, led 
him to trust too much to the undeserving. This exposed him to misrepresentation. 
He felt himself obliged to resign. The care of a rising family, and the narrowness 
of his fortune, made it a duty to return to his profession for their support. But 
though he was compelled to abandon public life, never, no, never for a moment did 
he abandon the public service. He never lost sight of your interests. I declare 
to you, before that God in whose presence we are now so especially assembled, that 
in his most private and confidential conversations, the single objects of discussion 
and consideration were your freedom and happiness. 

You well remember the state of things which again called forth Washington from 
his retreat to lead your armies. You know that he asked for Hamilton to be his 
Second in command. That venerable sage well knew the dangerous incidents of a 
military profession, and he felt the hand of time pinching life at its source. It was 
probable that he would soon be removed from the scene, and that his Second would 
succeed to the command. He knew, by experience, the importance of that place — 
and he thought the sword of America might safely be confided to the hand which 
now lies cold in that coffin. Oh! my fellow-citizens, remember this solemn testimo- 
nial that he was not ambitious. Yet he was charged with ambition ; and, wounded 
by the imputation, when he laid down his command, he declared, in the proud in- 
dependence of his soul, that he never would accept of any office, unless in a foreign 
war he should be called on to expose his life in defence of his country. This deter- 
mination was immoveable. It was his fault that his opinions and his resolutions 
could not be changed. Knowing his own firm purpose, he was indignant at the 
charge that he sought for place or power. He was ambitious only of glory, but he 
was deeply solicitous for you. For himself he feared nothing, but he feared that 



NOTES. 73 

bad men might, by false professions, acquire your confidence and abuse it to your 
ruin. 

Brethren of the Cincinnati — There lies our chief! Let him still be our model. 
Like him, after long and faithful public service, let us cheerfully perform the social 
duties of private life. Oh ! he was mild and gentle. In him there was no offence ; 
no guile. His generous hand and heart was open to all. 

Gentlemen of the Bar — You have lost your brightest ornament. Cherish and 
imitate his example. While, like him, with justifiable, with laudable zeal, you 
pursue the interests of your clients, remember, like him, the eternal principles of 
justice. 

Fellow Citizens — You have long witnessed his professional conduct, and felt his 
unrivalled eloquence. You know how well he performed the duties of a Citizen — 
you know that he never courted your favour by adulation or the sacrifice of his own 
judgment. You have seen him contending against you, and saving your dearest 
interests, as it were, in spite of yourselves. And you now feel and enjoy the bene- 
fits resulting from the firm energy of his conduct. — Bear this testimony to the 
memory of my departed friend. I charge tod to protect his fame — It is all he 
has left — all that these poor orphan children will inherit from their father. But 
my countrymen, that Fame may be a rich treasure to you also. Let it be the 
test by which to examine those who solicit your favour. Disregarding professions, 
view their conduct, and on a doubtful occasion, ask, Would Hamilton have done 
this thing ? 

You all know how he perished. On this last scene, I cannot, I must not dwell. It 
might excite emotions too strong for your better judgment. Suffer not your indig- 
nation to lead to any act which might again offend the insulted majesty of the laws. 
On his part, as from his lips, though with my voice — for his voice you will hear no 
more — let me entreat you to respect yourselves. 

And now ye ministers of the everlasting God, perform your holy office and com- 
mit these ashes of our departed brother to the bosom of the grave ! 

The oration being finished the corpse was carried to the grave where the usual 
funeral service was performed by the Reverend Bishop Moore. The troops who had 
entered the church-yard, formed an extensive hollow square and terminated the 
solemnities with three vollies over the grave. 



Remarks on Governeur Morris's funeral oration on General Hamilton. 

As Governeur Morris is fond of criticising others, he becomes a fair object for criti- 
cism himself. Give and take is/air play. 



74 NOTES. 

In all Governenr's harangues, let the purpose be what it may, there is always a 
great deal of what the players call stage trick, that is, an extraneous attempt to 
excite surprise. Of this kind was his speech in congress on the judiciary bill, when 
putting himself in an attitude of marvellous solemnity, and holding out his hand 
in awful position as if he was going to announce the sound of the last trump he 
cried, "Pause! Pause! for Heaven's sake pause!'' Heaven, however, did not 
listen to his call, for laughter followed where he expected a groan. 

In his funeral oration on Hamilton he said " his life (pointing at the corpse) "was 
one of honour and glory." This pointing scene (like the ghost in Hamlet point- 
ing with its finger) was a sort of stage trick, and, in this place, injudiciously 
introduced, for you caunot say the life of a corpse, and consequently not "his 
life,'' pointing to a corpse. The proper expression would have been, the life of our 
departed friend, but the sedateness of this would have excluded the stage trick of 
the finger scene, and Governeur cannot go on long in any thing, without some sort 
of tricks. As to " the honour and glory" we'll let that pass. Least said is soon- 
est mended. Perhaps what the ill-fated Duke of Wharton said in one of his last 
epistles to a friend would have suited quite as well, and made a better impression 
than this wholesale encomium of Governeur. 

" Be kind to my remains ; and O defend 

" Against your judgment, your deceased friend." 

" When our revolution began" (says Governeur) " his fame ivas heard of before 
his person ivas seen." This is undoubtedly true if his fame was heard of, or 
prophesied of before he was born ; but in any other case it is one of the Governeur's 
bulls ; neither is it correct as to the circumstance, for Hamilton was unknown when 
the revolution began. 

Our orator goes on, " Washington," says he "that excellent judge of human 
nature, perceived his virtues, appreciated his talents ," <$-c. This is one of Gover- 
neur's sly tricks, for it includes the idea, that, " Washington that excellent judge 
of human nature perceived my virtues, yes, my virtues, and appreciated my 
talents, for he appointed me minister to France and a very injudicious and un- 
fortunate appointment it was. 

From hence Governeur gets to York-Town in Virginia, where Cornwallis was taken, 
and where Hamilton had a command, at the head (says he) of a forlorn hope, attacked 
the redoubt (a redoubt) of the enemy and " was victorious. This occurrence gave us 
peace" — Hold, not quite so fast Mr. Orator. Burgoyne and his army had been taken 
before, and Gen. Greene (the best General in the American army) had triumphed to 
the southward, and recovered the southern states. But if there is any one circum- 



NOTES. 75 

stance that contributed more than another to the capture of Cornwallis, it was the 
French fleet of thirty-one sail of the line, shutting Cornwallis up in the Chesapeak, 
and preventing the English fleet taking him off ; and in addition to this, a frigate 
loaded with money brought from France by Col. John Lawrens and Thomas Paine, 
arrived at Boston the twenty-fifth of August, almost two months before Cornwallis 
surrendered. This timely supply enabled Congress to go on, and the army to pro- 
ceed to York-Town.* Governeur knows all these matters, (for he was at that time 
a sort of a deputy financier to Robert Morris) but it did not suit his tricks even to 
allude to them, and therefore he sacrificed them all to the merit of taking a redoubt. 
But Governeur is no soldier — he did not lose his leg in battle. 

From hence our orator conducts Hamilton to the convention which met at Phila- 
delphia in 1787, to form the federal constitution. — "Here," says he,t " I saw him 
labour indefatigably" — for what? — "for his country's good" continues the ora- 
tor. No Sir. He laboured to establish a constitution that would have deprived the 
citizens of every description of the right of election, and have put himself, and you 
too, Mr. Prate-a-pace, in possession of part of the government for life. 

" When (continues our orator) the labours of the convention were closed, he 
frankly expressed a doubt of the fitness of the constitution to maintain with 
necessary energy public freedom." Governeur Morris has got to learn the prin- 
ciples of government, but he ivill talk about it, for 

" On all things talkable he boldly talks." 

Governeur Morris and others of his description, who have conceits instead of 
principles, and vanity instead of wisdom, are very fond of this word energy, but they 
always mean the energy they are to act themselves, not that which they are to suf- 
fer. The same persons who were for what they called an energetic government, 
and a president and senate for life in the time of Washington (who was of their own 
party) would oppose it, now the presidency is in the hands of Mr. Jefferson, and 
that the senate is no longer of their faction ; which shews that those energy 
schemers do not act from principle, because principle, if right, is right at all times. 
The energy of the people has overthrown these schemes, but we do not hear them 
praise this sort of energy ! No ! No ! It is the energy of themselves over the peo- 



* It took sixteen ox teams to remove the money brought by this frigate, the 
Resolute, from Boston to Philadelphia. Thomas Willing, now president of the 
JJ. S. bank received it. 

t Governeur Morris was not appointed to the convention by his own state, for 
he had lost its confidence — but Robert Morris managed to get him appointed for 
Pennsylvania, to which kt did not belong. 



10 



76 



NOTES. 



pie that they mean. When the constitution tor the federal city was to be formed, 

Governeur's first article was, There shall be a d ned strong Jail. He certainly 

did not mean it for himself; but had he staid a few days longer in France he would 
have known what a strong jail was, and energy too, for the committee of public 
safety had intercepted some letters and they sent a guard to the house where he 
used to live, to arrest and take him to prison. But fortunately for him he was off, 
with all his waggon loads of fine French furniture, for Governeur knew how to 
feather his nest. 

The constitution being established, and Washington elected president, our orator 
thus proceeds with his harangue.- — " Washington, with whom he (Hamilton) had 
toiled, and by whose aid he had travelled through every stage of our revolution- 
ary contest— Washington, who saw his manly struggles in the convention, and 
best knew h»w to promote his country's welfare, called him, under the new con- 
stitution, to preside over an important department of our government."— Secre- 
tary of the treasury. 

Washington's choice of officers for the principal departments of government, was 
neither judicious nor fortunate, nor could it be so ; for excepting Mr. Jefferson 
(who had just arrived from his ministry in France, and was appointed secretary of 
state, which he soon resigned) Washington appointed those only of the convention 
who had supported arbitrary measures. " The ma7ily struggles' 1 (of which 
Governeur speaks) "that Hamilton made in the Convention,'* and which Wash- 
ington saw with approbation, were exerted to lift Washington above his fellows, by 
making him President for life, with a senate of the same description, or something 
worse. " Here" (continues our orator, that is, in the treasury) " Hamilton dis- 
played all the talents of a great financier" (for) "at this period we had no credit, 
but we had resources." This is putting the cart before the horse, which Governeur 
is very apt to do, for he seldom begins at the right end of anything. The uld Con- 
gress had no credit because it had no resources. The new constitution provided 
resources for the new congress, and credit, like the cart behind the horse, followed 
of consequence. Hamilton created neither the one nor the other ; but he created an 
insurrection by his injudicious, vexatious, and unproductive tax upon stills : but 
this was energy. Our orator next proceeds to the period when an army of fifty 
thousand men were to be raised, of which Washington was appointed commander 
in chief by that poor creature John Adams. 

" Menaced," says he, " by dangers from without" (this is an absolute falsehood 
with respect to a foreign invasion) " Washington was called from his beloved retire- 
ment to the field" (that bloodless field where the masquerade of danger was to be 
performed.) Governeur then goes on, "that great man," (who made Governeur 
Morris a great man) "had not forgotten the young hero (Hamilton) who, early in 



NOTES. 77 

the revolution had attracted his notice. He viewed him as worthy to be second 
in command, and he was appointed major-general of our army." As our orator 
had no deeds of " honour and glory" to rehearse on this dangerless occasion, he 
closes his account of it by saying, " Washington deemed him, in case of accident" 
(it must be all accident where there is no danger) ' perhaps the only man in whose 
hands, which now lie cold in his coffin''* (this is a paltry attempt at the pa- 
thetic) "the sword and purse of America could be so safely entrusted." It is a 
thing of no consequence to us, what Washington thought of Hamilton when he ap- 
pointed him to office or command, or what Hamilton thought of Washington when 
he called him an old fool; thank God those times are past and better are come in 
their place. 

As to the danger of which our orator speaks, it marks one of those well-remem- 
bered circumstances which shews that the politics of that day were either foolish or 
worse. No man who possessed a grain of common sense could have supposed that 
while France and England were engaged in war, especially a land war, that either 
could spare a regiment, much less an army, to send against America ; neither was 
it ever thought of by either of them. The impossibility of the thing did not permit 
the existence of such a thought. What then was the army wanted for ? 

When we consider the parties engaged in it, and know what their politics were, 
we have a right to conclude, that it was to accomplish by an armed force in the 
field, what had failed of success by projects in the convention. The chiefs however, 
did not draw cordially together. Between Washington, Adams and Hamilton, there 
was a reciprocal jealousy and distrust, and some specimens of hatred ; and they 
were well founded. 

Our orator concludes his account of Hamilton's public career as follows : — " He 
toiled incessantly with manly firmness against popular zeal, and snatched you, 
in spite of yourselves" (this is an affront to the audience) "from impending 
ruin."i — If somebody would be kind enough to snatch Governeur Morris from his 
worst enemy," his foolish self, it might cure his otherwise incurable folly. Ex- 
perience is lost upon him. In business he is a babe, and in politics a visionary ; 
and the older he grows the more foolish he becomes. 

Of civil government he knows nothing; he has yet to learn that the strength of 
government consists in the interest the people have in supporting it. The present 



* When an affair of business is said to be put into a person's hands, it means 
figuratively, his care and judgment; but Morris referring to the hands in the coffin, 
destroyed the figurative meaning of the phraise, and makes nonsense of it. 

1 An orator ought not to take the advantage of a funeral oration, to propagate 
things which are not facts. Morris ought to prove what he has said or retraot it. 
Funeral orations give no protection to falsehoods. 



78 



NOTES. 



administration is, for this reason, stronger than any that preceded it ; and the next 
presidential election will show it. Mere politicians of the old school may talk of 
alliances, but the strongest of all alliances is that which the mildness, wisdom, and 
justice of government form, unperceived, with the people it governs. It grows in 
the mind with the secrecy and fidelity of love, and reposes on its own energy. Make 
it the interest of people to live in a state of government, and they will protect that 
which protects them. But when they are harassed with alarms which time dis- 
covers to be false, and burthened with taxes for which they can see no cause, their 
confidence in such government withers away, and they laugh at the energy that at- 
tempts to restore it. Their cry then is, as in the time of terror (" not to your tents, 
O ! Israel, but) to the next election ! citizens." It is thus the representative 
system corrects wrongs and preserves rights. COMMON SENSE. 

Illustrative Comments on the Character and Administration 
of Thomas Jefferson. 

"Every man sits down under his own vine and his own Jig tree, and there is 
none to make him afraid." 

A systematic, pernicious, and fallacious attempt having been made, in the Boston 
Centinel, by a writer under the signature of Hume, to misrepresent the principles 
and actions of Mr. Jefferson with a view to disturb the tranquillity of the empire, 
and introduce a British influence in our councils ; we have deemed it, as not alto- 
gether improper, to resist this baneful and seditious endeavour. 

In offering our remarks upon the moral and political influence of this great and 
good man, it is our intention to touch upon the more prominent traits of his portrait, 
without entering upon the path of biographical narration— Our illuminated Presi- 
dent of the United States, forms a brilliant part of that Virginian constellation, 
which has so highly raised the American character, in the contemplation of the 
European world : George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henrt and 
James Madison, will be remembered coeval with Time, as champions of human 
freedom and benefactors to mankind. 

The rancorous pertinacity with which Mr. Jefferson has been assailed, is the fullest 
proof of his being envied and feared by his enemies ; he is a polite scholar, a moral 
example, a wise and temperate reasoner, and a profound politician — Fortune was 
auspicious to him, when young, in affording him the glorious opportunity of resist- 
ing the tyranny of an elder nation, that had become bewildered with her own vani- 
ties, and urged claims, inconsistent with equity, policy or honor ; the issue of which 
was our emancipation, and her own peculiar humiliation — Fortune has since been 



NOTES. 79 

equally auspicious to America, in placing the sage of Monticello, at the head 
of the purest and most potent Democracy, that society ever knew ! — We must 
not be unmindful that his continuance in power, forms the best hope for an utter ex- 
clusion of British influence, in the United States : an influence which contaminates 
as it extends, and, like the circumvolutions of a whirlpool, gradually attracts and 
ingulphs the object of its action. It may be observed, that we have expressed a 
solemn dread upon the supposition that England could subjugate France ; an event 
which is fortunately out of all possible calculation : and this dread arose from a 
conviction, that, in such a case, the liberties of the civilized world would be foreclosed 
forever ; when Europe had been manacled with chains, " they would have brought 
the veto' 1 ' of despotism to the new world ; they would have put out the light, and 
then all human privileges would disappear, and a political death abridge the force 
and uses of intellect. 

That desperate and traiterous Faction, in the United States, who have daringly 
assumed the name of Federalists to hide their black designs upon the Federal 
Union, had taken a position of terror, to overawe the friends to our Republican sys- 
tem. This faction is wholly British, and all its pensioned minions, make the cause 
of our old Tyrant, their first point of consideration in all their papers. This faction 
has been systematic in its opposition to Mr. Jefferson, and have carried their libels 
on his morals and government, to a height of rudeness and malignity, as is unex- 
ampled in the annals of political competition ; and such as would ensure their ruin, 
under any other Administration, but that lenient Authority, which they have thus 
insulted by their enormities This party are inexpiable in their wrath, and incon- 
gruous in their aims. They are made up with fragments from the schools of Alex- 
ander Hamilton and John Adams, and although they hold each other in insupera- 
ble contempt, and cannot agree, upon principle and esteem, they dare not disagree, 
from emotions of fear. They become confluent, in their labours to efface the letter 
of civil goodness, but separate, in antipathy, when that labour has been exhausted. 
In their unceasing struggles to vilify Mr. Jefferson, they have applied their imposi- 
tions to the prejudices of Society, and not to its reasoning powers. They have been 
endeavouring to establish four allegations, with a particular degree of fury ; namely, 
an imputed impiety ; an imputed Violation of the Constitution ; an imputed 
creation of a dominating Southern Influence; and his purchase of Louisiana, 
which last event, is sufficient to immortalize him for ruling perspicuity, had not the 
other features of his government, been correspondent, in sustaining the matchless 
freedom, dignity and prosperity of his native land. 

We shall offer some immature observations, on these rude and unfounded charges, 
before we prgceed to a short analysis of his personal endowments, and qualifications. 



80 



NOTES. 



Mr. Jefferson's imputed Impiety. 
Thus even handed Justice shall return, 



The empoison'd cha'ice to their own lips. 

In the last struggles of the monarchical faction, in these states, we have perceived 
a spirit of falsehood and malignity, directed against the President, more intolerant, 
more wicked, and more detestable, than was ever manifested by the bigots of the 
Roman See, when the truth of reformation was anathematized, as the heresy of the 
impious. 

The adage is common, but uncontradicted, that the Demon will quote scripture to 
suit his ruinous purposes ; thus do the Anglo-Federalists here, in a strain of blas- 
phemous levity, make a wanton use of the name of heaveD, to answer the views of 
personal resentment and political intrigue. As they have been driven by fair and 
open argument, from the ground of Republicanism, which they had assumed, to 
cover their designs for the destruction of all Republican institutes and measures ; 
they have recourse to the "Id, stale, musty, worn out tale of the President's irreli- 
gion, which has been vamped and served up, and is a new instance of editorial 
dullness and factious villany. 

It makes a good and thoughtful man, sick at heart, to hear the cant of political 
knavery, offered and partially received, as a substitute for moral sincerity. It 
might be expected, in the present state of the civilized world, that the arms of 
charity would be extended to embrace every description of persons, who had not 
violated the decalogue, or made an inroad upon the peace or security of his neighbor. 
Is it at this enlightented epocha. that we are to be called to acts of mutual unchari- 
tableness, because, there is some difference of opinion, as to the best mode of offering 
our humble vows to Heaven ? Are we to be again summoned by the tocsin of the 
Monk and the Zealot, to cut the throats of each other, on a point of Faith ? — Are the 
flood-gates of desolation to be thrown open, once more, that animosity may have an 
establishment, in our places of holy worship, and the altars of the Messiah be pro- 
phaDed by the ravings of political mad-men ; who would use their faith as the 
stalking-horse of their ambition, and make the ordinances of religion, merely instru- 
mental to the furtherance of their temporal pride? Of all species of hypocrisy, 
there is none so dreadful, as when bad men are disposed to call on the name of God, 
to conceal the baseness of their own habits, and perpetrate their enormities under 
the banners of holiness. 

To defend Mr. Jefferson against the force of imputed expressions which were never 
conceived or uttered, would be an offence to every man, who had discernment: No 
candid man, could believe, for a moment, that he ever declared an idea, that was 
injurious to the health of national morals ; and, as we are not tributary to a High 



NOTES. 81 

Priest, nor subject to the terrors of an Inquisition, upon dogmas of orthodoxy, we 
presume to suppose that when the Government, comprehends in its protection all 
the grades and classes of devotion, it has done its duty on this essential point, and 
that it remains, with the community to fraternize with each other, and consider, 
that to bear and forbear, is the principle which alone can strengthen or harmonize 
their condition. 

It has been urged, as an objectional point in Mr. Jefferson's character, that he 
is a Philosopher '. If any person unacquainted with the tergiversation and artifices 
and diabolism of the Anglo-federal faction was to hear that a Magistrate was to be 
repudiated and condemned, becaise, he was a philosopher, how much would he be 
amazed ? he would naturally apprehend that the Gothic night of barbarity was to 
darken society once more, and that all the refinements of humanity were to be 
abolished and overthrown. 

What is a Philosopher, in the uuperverted meaning of the term ? In the explana- 
tion we could talk for seven years, and always in honour of the proud appellation. 
To be concise, a Philosopher is an exalted being, who makes the knowledge of nature 
and morality, as founded on reason and experience, his study ; and those studies 
which have no intention towards improving our moral characters, have no pretence 
to be styled philosophical — " Quis est enim," (says Cicero) •' qui nullis officii pras- 
ceptis tradensis, philosophum se auileat decere ?" — Those speculations (says the 
acute Bolingbroke) which instead of preparing us to be useful to society, and to 
promote the happiness of mankind, are only systems for gratifying private ambition, 
and promoting private interest at the public expence; deserve execration — Of this 
class was the political philosophy of Machiavel ; of this class is the political philos- 
ophy of Anglo-Federalism, but of this is not the moral or political philosophy of Mr. 
Jefferson ; he has simplified and given an added force to policy, by making it honest, 
instead of wily ; and he has thrown into the lap of Morality, the purest apothegms, 
of the Apostles and the Fathers, accompanied with the graces of a gentleman — he 
leaves to adust and melancholy spirits, every privilege to enwrap themselves with 
the mantle of superstition, and I am persuaded that this Philosopher has no desire 
to obliterate their tenets or reduce their joys ; but it would ill become the head of a 
free Empire, like this, to prescribe an exclusive form of worship, and copy the ex- 
ample of his predecessor, by labouring to affix a Pontifex maximus on his seven 
hills, and " a nobility in a hole." — This Philosopher feels it to be his duty, to dis- 
countenance immorality, but he does not feel it, as incumbent to widen the breaches 
of religious contention, and lay the bloody s^eds of another St. Bartholomew : If Mr. 
Jefferson could intend to make an illicit use of his great and well-earned influence, 
he would take those means to effect it, which the Anglo-Federalists appear to recom- 
mend ; but as his views are wholly and incontestibly patriotic, he looks with disdain 



82 NOTES. 

upon those unpardonable struggles of faction, and relies for support and security 
upon the prevalence of the national good sense, which will admit of no governing 
distinction, but what arises from virtue and its practice. 

" For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, 
His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right !" 

The raging outcry, against the terrors of what is termed the modern philosophy 
originated in the fears of Mr. Pitt's administration ; yet in what leading particulars 
the modern philosophy differs from the antient philosophy, we cannot devise. — Our 
natural philosophy is assuredly more perfect ; but as the objection does not rest 
there, but is wholly attached to the moral philosophy, it is deserving of some notice, 
to enquire why this objection should exist : but he must be wiser than we are, who 
can assign an adequate cause. It is in the agency of philosophy to investigate 
truth, which, in physical cases, is demonstrable by the senses, but in moral cases it 
is not always so ; but must remain with the judgment to make the best determina- 
tion it can, and as that judgment is more or less imperfect, from the unalienable 
tinge of prejudice, and the want of an efficient knowledge of causes and events, the 
question is too frequently left subject to interpretations, which wisdom rejects by 
experience, but cannot always invalidate by facts Some ridiculous st' ries were 
propagated about the Illuminati in Germany, wh 1, it was loudly asserted, were first 
to assail the Church, in order eventually to assail the State ; and this dread might 
cleave about the feelings of an European Prelacy, who make the word of God, sub- 
servient to the purposes of mortal luxury; but it certainly cannot, in any shape 
apply to America, where the Ministers of the Gospel, have at present, no national 
establishment, but are altogether dependent, for their influence in society, upon the 
soundness of their doctrines, and the rectitude of their conduct; nor can any divine 
lay claim to that rectitude who makes his spiritual functions obedient to political 
antipathies. — If the mild precepts of Christianity should unfortunately suffer, and 
lose aught of their hallowed effect upon men, it will arise more from 

" Those meddling Priests, 
Who vex the quiet world, with their vain scruples, 
And make their faith the organ of their malice !" 

than from any other origin. — It is necessary for our preservation and our happiness 
to uphold the genuine dignity of the sacerdotal character, and, we are persuaded, 
that this dignity will never be infringed or violated by the words or actions of Mr. 
Jefferson. — We can listen to a difference in political opinion, with complacency, 
being conscious that the will of the majority, will duly ascertain the point of right ; 



NOTES. 83 

but we lose our equanimity of temper, when interested men, would mingle their 
worst passions with their devotion, and destroy truth, to injure an honorable ex- 
ample. No person can say, in what manner, the President has been detrimental to 
true piety, which has flourished more under the wing of his dominion, than during 
any former administration of power ; if this fanatical clamour, is imputable to his 
toleration, of all sects, who demean themselves agreeably to the laws, such silly in- 
cendiaries should be informed, that this toleration, duly emanates from his high 
authority, and from which he cannot depart, without obliterating one of the first 

and most glorious privileges of the Constitution. There is some danger that all 

morality will eventually decay, in this overstrained struggle for the maintenance of 
forms, and, especially when it is known, that few persons, have had less pretensions 
to sound sanctity, than these hawkers about an exclusive piety ; the greatest part of 
whom, ought, in strict justice, to be whipped at the carts tail for their hourly irrup- 
tions upon the claims of social honesty ! 

Mr. Jefferson may be fairly received as a friend of religion in all its peaceful 
establishments, as he has never been known to countenance, or cherish a spirit of 
persecution, against any human being for a religious dissimilitude of opinion ; if 
this does not prove his zeal on one particular dogma, it at least demonstrates that 
he cannot be the enemy of any man, on account of the theological cannon of his 
adoption, which is more than can be said of many, who have the exterior of saints, 
without the necessary qualifications of faith, grace or charity to recommend them ; 
but the same despicable cant, the same ungenerous jargon has been applied, by 
every fanatic to every man, of a liberal and original style of thinking, from Wick- 
liff to Luther ; from Luther to John Locke ; and from John Locke to Joseph 
Priestley. 

The very mischievous use, which has been made by insi lious, hypocritical and 
treasonable men, to prove that Religion was in danger, under the mild and wise 
sway of Mr. Jefferson, has been frequently a subject of lamentation, with the real 
friends of Christianity: — It is notoriously true, that many of the most profligate 
blockheads in society, have been among the loudest of these canting varlets, to 
answer the purposes of their dark and crooked policy — We are persuaded that the 
cause of Religion has been strengthened by the example and influence of Mr. Jef- 
ferson, and that magistrate would be unwise who should have the temerity to 
relax the force of that reliance which the creature must have upon the Creator, in 
the hour of calamity — It is observed by Plutarch, that the Romans, in the virtuous 
ages of their Republick, had such respect to religion, that they made all their affairs 
to depend solely on the will of the gods ; that even in their greatest prosperities they 
never suffered the least contempt or neglect of the antient rites and ceremonies, 
being perfectly assured that their uniform submission to the gods, contributed 

11 



84 NOTES. 

much more to the stability and prosperity of their State, than all the successes of 
their arms — The instances of the noblest patriotism among them are almost innu- 
merable ; Cains Mutius Sccevoli, the Decii, and Quintus Curtius are, amongst 
others, most astonishing: and during the first five hundred years of Rome, we 
often meet with characters of the most shining and exalted virtue — but there is an 
immeasurable distance between a principle of pure piety, and the knavish affectation 
of that principle. 

An attempt is now making in New-England, (after the example of Connecticut) 
upon those who are believed by the Tories to possess some serious regard for re- 
ligion, particularly the Baptists and Methodists, to prejudice them against the 
government, by reviving the hackneyed theme, that Religion is in da?iger. — And 
what is the amount of their argument on this subject ? why that religion is in 
danger, because Mr. Jefferson in his political capacity lets it alone, lets it have its 
own free course, is not inclined to interpose with his power, in favour of any sect, 
but is a friend to free, complete and perfect toleration — The inference they drew 
from this, is, that he must be an infidel, possessing no regard for religion, and of 
course, (reasoning Calvinistically) must hate it, and will embrace the first oppor- 
tunity to destroy it ! 

The premises from which this sage conclusion is drawn, it will be remarked, 
regard Mr. Jefferson, only in his political capacity, or as a civil ruler, clothed 
with temporal power. For, in his private capacity, as a man, they know that he 
has contributed large sums for the propagation of the gospel, (vastly more than his 
predecessor) ; that he supports a clergymen at his own espence, and that he is a 
constant attendant on public worship. 

Their deductions from his principles of free and perfect toleration, may pas? well 
enough with their own sect (as they mostly consider themselves of a standing order,) 
but are wretched logic to be addressed to Methodists and Baptists. What ! religion 
in danger from Mr. Jefferson, because he wishes it to have a free course ! religion 
in hazard of being destroyed by him, because he in his political capacity lets it 
alone, does not meddle in its concerns with the artillery of his temporal authority ! 
Who clothed him in that authority for the purpose of intermeddling in the concerns 
of souls ? The world has suffered enough from the perversion of temporal preroga- 
tives and power to spiritual purposes. The Saviour bled, the apostles were slain, 
hosts of martyrs perished at the stake and millions have been destroyed in persecu- 
tions, from this horrid principle. 

If the doctrine were ever to prevail in this country (which God forbid) that the 
chief Magistrate must interfere in matters of religion and employ the thunder of 
his power in its concerns, or be calumniated as an infidel, what has the Baptist to 
expect — what has the Methodist to expect — what has any humble denomination to 



NOTES. 85 

expect? Could either of these expect to become the favoured s«ot, the established 
order ? If they should, one thing is certain — those who are now wishing to alarm 
them, would rebel. — Nothing but mutiny and insurrection might be expected from 
their chagrin. No, they must have the establishment, or it will be worse than 
none. — And on this head they feel secure enough, for both Methodists and Baptists 
are too humble and sincere to have their religion become a fashionable one, a religion 
of state. Whereas the intriguers are just sincere enough to have their religion de- 
bauched by temporal power, and converted into state grandeur. 

The truth is, both Baptists and Methodists, and msny other denominations, wi 
might be named, will find their only safety in perfect religious freedom, in the gov- 
ernment's not interposing at all in religious matters, but in its letting those matters 
alone, permitting all sects to worship God freely, according to the dictates of their 
own consciences. And they ought to bless God for the illustrious example which 
Mr. Jefferson is setting on this subject, in disclaiming a right to intermeddle with 
religion in his capacity as chief magistrate. His example will have effect for time 
to come, and this land may long be an asylum for the persecuted and oppressed 
where the humble worshippers of God may reside in security and peace, and have 
none to make them afraid. 

Look a moment at Great-Britain, for our Anglo-federalists want every thing to be 
here as it is there. The civil power there has not let religion alone, but has inter- 
posed and established a certain sect by law. To support the overgrown clergy of 
that sect, a tythe is collected of every individual who improves property in the 
realm. Baptists, Methodists, Friends, dissenters of every denomination, are com- 
pelled by the thunder of the civil power to pay their tythe to the established order. 
And what is a tythe ? why it is a tenth part of all their earning, or of the yearly 
produce of their farms. Where no compromise is made for money, (which is very 
frequently the case,) the ecclesiastical collector goes yearly into the possessions of 
the farmer, and takes the tenth hay-cock, the tenth sheaf of grain, the tenth bundle 
of flax, the tenth bushel af apples, of turnips, of potatoes, the tenth pig, the tenth 
lamb, the tenth calf, the tenth fowl — in short, the tenth of all and every thing that 
is produced yearly. This goes to the exclusive support of the established church. 
Whatever expence the Baptists, the Methodists, &c, incur to support their own 
persuasion, it is separate from the forementioned tythe, and is a merefree-will offer- 
ing — for the government cares not whether they have ministers or no. And to dis- 
courage them still more, no dissenter can hold an office, civil, military or naval. 

This is Old England ! and it is perhaps the mildest oppression that ever existed, 
where the civil power undertook to interlere in matters of religion. Bloodshed, 
slaughter and extermination have most usually attended such interference. 

Baptists ! consider of these things. Methodists ! consider of them, Universalists ! 



86 NOTES. 

Friends ! all who have a humble regard for religion, say, is it not best for the civil 
power to attend to the objects for which it was ordained, and not undertake to regu- 
late the affairs of Christ's kingdom, which is not of this world ? 

A late publication makes the number of iahabitants on this globe to be 896 mil- 
lions. Of these, 226 millions are Christians, (that is, people generally denominated 
Christians) ; 10 millions of Jews ; 210 millions of Mahometans ; 450 millions of Pa- 
gans. Of those professing the Christian religion, there are 50 millions of Protest- 
ants ; 30 millions of the Greek and Armenian churches, and 90 millions of ( atholics. 
The aggregate population on the surface of the known habitable globe, is estimated 
at 896 millions. If we reckon with the antients, that a generation lasts 30 years, in 
that space 816 millions of souls will be born and die ; — consequently, eighty-one 
thousand seven hundred and sixty must be dropping into eternity every day ; three 
thousand four hundred and seven every hour, or about fifty-six every minute. 

In this mass of people, variegated in opinion, even more than colour there is not 
one (with mental health) but looks forward, in the awful moment of death, to some 
supernatural or theological system of relief, when they have "shaken off this mor- 
tal coil ;"' yet they are as divided in their several modes of piety, as in the degrees 
of latitude, in which they breathe : and even those divisious of thought, are subject 
to lesser divisions, in prejudice, yet they are all actuated by divine hone, operating 
in some expressive way — Now, is it the desire of these Anglo-Federal traitors, that 
Mr. Jefferson should arise in anger from the chair of government and sound the toc- 
sin of carnage; that the Christian should stab the Mahometan, and both extirpate the 
Jew : and when that work of blood was over, that the multifarious sects, who believe 
in Christ, should turn with ferocity on each other, and deal destruction around, be- 
cause one might deem the swallowing a wafer, as a necessary passport to the Al- 
mighty, and another might reject the measure ? 

There can be no question about their endeavour to introduce an hierarchy in the 
United States, and to give us Spiritual Lords, (as the Bishops are designated) in- 
stead of those amiable Ministers, who live and teach in exemplary humility — They 
want the Tiara and the Pontificalibus of the ecclesiastic offices, and to draw im- 
mense revenues, for the support of priestly pride, from the tythes of the industrious 
Farmer. — The revenues of the Clergy of France under the antient government, 
amounted to 600,000,000 livres, or 25 millions sterling, and maintained 250,000 
Clergy who, together with their domestics, &c made more than half a million of 
idle, unproductive persons to be fed and clothed. The Clergy of France are now little 
more than the skeleton of what they were. The sluggish monks are banished or 
reformed into useful men, and the village Curate, has a stipend for his maintenance, 
that is equal to the purposes of a holy life, though very unequal to the purposes of 
human ambition.— In Britain, the Prelacy have, as yet, retained all their ascend- 



NOTES. 87 

ancy : the crown hangs dependant from the crozier, and a sacred predilection au- 
thorises the folly of the nation ; — it is a rare circumstance to hear a Bishop illustrate 
the Gospel, but it is a common event, to be stunned in their House of Peers, with 
political curses against a rival Power, whose integrity is elevated above the influ- 
ence of their anathema. What the sentiments of a primitive Christian would be, 
on beholding a modern Pontifex, in full plumage, declaiming on the advantages of 
war, it is not very difficult to imatrine. 

The enemies of the government and of Republicanism, are endeavouring to awaken 
a spirit of fanaticism, among the more credulous orders of our c'tizens, and make 
an ideal evil, productive of real misery to the people, and embarrassment to the 
Executive power. They are eternally insisting that Religion is in d mger, without 
adducing a single instance, to support the deceiving charge. Are th'se furious and 
false Tories, eager to enforce another massacre of St. Bartholomew, and lay the 
foundation of a proud High Church establishment, in the blood of the Dissenting 
Sects of Christians? If Religion is in danger, it will arise from the hypocrisy, 
malignity and wickedness of the Royal Faction, who are impiously using the name 
of heaven, as a stalking-horse for the furtherance of their own parricidal designs 
against the Republican institutions of their country : Who would create the several 
States of the Union into Diocesan authorities, encumbered with Bishops, Deans, and 
all the idle train appertaining to an arrogant, insatiate and intolerant Prelacy. — 
They would drive our modest, and really Christian Clergy before them, as Pitt 
oppresses the Baptists and Presbyterians in Britain ; scoff them with insolence, and 
make them tributary and obedient to a pamperedJiierarchy ! — This is the latent aim 
of the Royal Faction of New-Kngland, who insult us, with specimens of their 
temperance, by sumptuous dinners at Concert Hall ; who manifest their piety, by 
toasts and sentiments, that would dishonor a Pagan, in his orgies ; and whose cruel- 
ty of declaration has arisen to such a height, as sufficiently proves, that they would 
banish charity and brotherly love, from the bosoms of mankind : yet the voluptu- 
ous sneering wretches, these political pharisees, will prate about an exclusive piety, 
who do not preserve more of the outward forms of devotion, than the drunken fol- 
lowers of Epicurus '. 

There is no State, in this Union, so thoroughly hoodwinked and managed by the 
Clergy as Connecticut, and no Clergy, of this Empire, have manifested so much 
intolerance and ambition as they have— This State is the theme of adulation with 
the Royalists, because it is full of individual proscription and sacerdotal arrogance 
—These caballing men begin to totter in their authority, and, in order to support 
their power, they make an hypocritical howling to the people, about the state of 
Religion, which was never endangered until they combined it, with an aristocratic, 
cruel, and dissembling policy. 



88 



NOTES. 



"Although," says Governor Trumbull, in his late speech to the Legislature of 
Connecticut, "some untoward circwnstances exist among us, (by which, without 
doubt, he means the increase of republican principles, in opposition to the combined 
tyranny of church and state in Connecticut) yet, says he, the God of our fathers, 
who is also our God, hath hitherto sustained us, and in him, while doing our duty, 
and walking in the ways of our fathers, we may still trust for future support." 

That people may know what were the ways which those whom Governor Trumbull 
calls " our fathers" walked in, we here subjoin some extracts from the laws made 
in the dominion of New-Haven, in the colony of Connecticut at its first estab- 
lishment. 

" No quaker, or dissenter from the established worship of this dominion, shall be 
allowed to give a vote for the election of magistrates or any other. 

" No food or lodging shall be offered to a quaker, Adamite, or other heretic— If 
any person turn quaker he shall be banished, and not suffered to return on pain of 
death. 

"No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden, except reverently 
to and from meeting. 

"No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep houses, cut hair or shave 
on the Sabbath day. 

" No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting day. 

"No one shall read common prayers, keep Christmas or set days, make mince 
pies, or play on any instrument of music except the drum, trumpet and Jew's- 
harp. 

"No man shall court a maid in person or by letter, without first obtaining her 
parents' consent — five pounds penalty for the first offence, ten pounds for the second, 
and for the third, imprisonment during the pleasure of the court. 

" Every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap." 

There is not one moral principle in any of those laws. They are a compound of 
tyranny, persecution, ignorance and fanaticism. Yet these are the ways which 
those whom Governor Trumbull calls " our fathers," walked in, and whose exam- 
ple he recommends, and our false zealots would follow. 

Whether a citizen of the New World, derives his pious consolations in trouble, 
(as all men are religious in trouble) from the pages of the Talmud, or the Sanco- 
mathon — from the incense of a hecatomb, or the extravagances of the Salii — 
whether he prefers the canon of Simon the Just, or the injunctions of the Niceue 
creed — If he smiles, with Saint Jerome, at the holy romance of the seventy-two 
elders, or runs parallel in his faith with Justin. ; are points, extremely immaterial 
to the peace and happiness of the remainder of society, provided the man is scrupu- 
lously moral in his transactions. He, who fervently feels and obeys the pure ethics 



NOTES. 89 

of the New Testament, must be exemplary, and must be happy ; but that hypocrite 
who affects a high-toned semblance of holiness, to cover the guilt of his breast, is 
perpetrating an insult towards heaven ; and weakening those buttresses of comfort, 
upon which the lofty and the low, will seek to rest, when the storms of life, have 
abated their arrogance, and restored their self knowledge. 

Amendment to the Constitution. 

The criminal ambiguity of Mr. Burr, during the last Presidential election, estab- 
lished the necessity for this measure, and the injudicious demeanor of his partizans, 
since that period, have proved that the measure was indispensable — Among those 
partizans, was the Hon. Peirce Butler, who published an indigested Letter on that 
subject, which might have proved seriously injurious to Mr. Jefferson, and the 
United States, if the public discernment had been less correct — Supposing this gen- 
tleman to be honest and erect in thought, we find it perplexing to assign an adequate 
apology for this mischievous publication. 

It is the desire of some men, who may be radically worthy, to aim at singularity, 
for the purpose of attracting popular attention : and it is the desire of others, to be 
artfully doubtful, even on the principles of immutable right, to be widely mischiev- 
ous : but, fortunately for the preservation of public happiness, the discreet voice of 
the many, governs the folly, or the wild ambition of the few ; and in despite of the 
needless agitation which has been introduced by such persons, the points of truth 
and virtue rest eventually upon a basis which under certain modifications, may 
exist, in spirit for ever. 

The Tories of New England, have made a triumphant use of this mistaken gentle- 
man's letter to the governor of South Carolina, and they vaunt much, on this 
authority, because the writer is, or was a republican : In retracing the history of 
the opposition to this healthful measure, we can observe with sorrow, the names of 
a restricted number of gentlemen, leagued in the battalion of hostility, who have 
been considered as republicans : and what is more sorrowful, it yet remains ex- 
tremely difficult to offer a due motive for their conduct ; but we will presume that 
it was an error in judgment, and not a defection of the heart. 

When the deep and lamented atrocity was first developed that led to the framing 
of this necessary amendment; it is possible, and merely possible, that some well 
meaning men, might have been deceived as to the ulterior designs of the fallen per- 
son, who, unhappily created this singular species of Iscariotism — But after the 
publication of what is ludicrously termed his defence by Aristides, those doubts 
could no longer be effectual : as every human being, with mental soundness, must 
have been compelled to acknowledge, that such a mass of indiscriminate abuse, could 



90 NOTES. 

not, or would not be employed to unpeel and lay naked indefinite causes, which went 
to substantiate a charge of private treason and public dishonor. It is difficult to 
aver, from which source, that backsliding gentleman, suffered most ; his own ser- 
pentine agency, or the fury of his apologist ! We are not moved by illiberal antip- 
apathies towards this extinguished scholar and soldier ; we respect his qualifica- 
tions, in his ruin 

" As he ivas learned, I admired him '. 
As he ivas eloquent, I respected him .'" 
As he was brave, I honor'd him ; 
But, as he was ambitious, I slew him'. 

As all the monarchists in America contributed at that period, to exalt his name, as 
a martyr, bleeding in the cause of order and morals ; so are the same party, giving 
now, all practicable publicity and undue application to Mr. Butler's letter : What- 
ever their real opinion may be of Mr. Butler's policy, they have sense enough to 
know, that even the honest scruples of a republican, must be advantageous to their 
endeavors ; as the more complicated and crooked, they can render their proceedings, 
the more they will be enabled to hide thesappings and mining of despotism, from the 
national eye ! 

Among the infirmities of human nature, there is a political fanaticisrn, as well 
as a religious fanaticism ; and admitting that the opponents to the amendment, do 
not act upon traiterous principles, they must act upon this weakness — - 'I like the 
constitution," says Mr. Butler, "better than the proposed alteration." A fevrous 
patient might as well say, I like my body better than the physic that is administred 
to preserve that boay : In this volley of unprofitable zeal, he forgets to declare, that, 
contrary to all honest expectation, a Cat aline had arisen, whose perpetrations had 
rendered this amen lment absolutely necessary to keep the constitution fr..m 
destruction ; and that the great majority of the sister States saw the extent of 
the evil, as clearly, as the government.— That this aspirhig gentleman, had his 
half disguised abettors, sprinkled over the Union, to co-operate in his insidious 
designs, by intrigue, calumny and meuace — That this design has been made abor- 
tive by the virtue of the citizens, and wisdom of the executive authority, and the 
funeral of treason should be accompanied with the tears of the traitor, and not 
those of independent and beneficent men. 

As this unwise letter has appeared, it will be strengthening to the state and com- 
plimentary to the perception and firmness of the people ; by proving that no species 
of attack whatever, wheiher clothed in assumed republicanism, or assumed piety, 
can divert them from an accurate contemplation of truth and right — That the ex- 
treme fastidiousness of worthy men, and the extreme enormities of unworthy 



NOTES. 91 

men, are equally insufficient to cloud the general understanding of the United States. 
With this gentle rebuke to do away the tenets of a false and dangerous doctrine, we 
have no objection to let Mr. Peirce Butler depart in peace ; but as he has blown 
upon the embers of statistic disaffection, it is not proper that he should depart un- 
answered. 

We do not make any observations on the other declamatory topics which Mr. 
Butler has introduced, because the public opinion has voted them as illusory. As 
the crisis of their operation is over, it is our hope that those who have been hurried 
into the commission of wrong by ignorance ; and those who have done wrong, by 
election, may see the futility of their measures ; and strive to obliterate the impres- 
sion of their mis-statements, by harmonizing with the will of their fellow citizens, 
and acknowledging the mildness and equanimity of the president — If Mr. Butler 
believes that he is enabled to maintain the ground he has taken, we challenge him 
to an investigation of those indiscreet assertions, which he has so laboriously con- 
jured up, from the sea of doubt and trouble. 

It has been truly asserted, in one of the Eastern Organs of Aristocracy,* that 
" such is the misfortune of our times, that there is nothing proposed, however bene- 
ficial to the Public in general, which does not meet with strenuous opposition." — 
This remark, we are concerned to state, is exemplified but too frequently among 
us, and is often productive of temporary inquietudes : yet, the very manifestation 
of the power to oppose, agreeably to the laws, is a sound proof of the existence of our 
political rights. 

An amendment to the Constitution has passed the National Senate and House of 
Representatives, and is now constitutionally ratified by the several states of the 
union. — This amendment to the Constitution, is made agreeably to the 5th article, 
thereof, which provides, " that Congress whenever two thirds of both Houses shall 
deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the appli- 
cation of the legislatures, of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention 
for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and 
purposes as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three 
fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one 
or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress." 

The cause, which operated to produce that salutary amendment in the Constitu- 
tion, is recent, and, as a melancholy instance of human infirmity, will be im- 
mortal. — When our Patriots and Sages, first met, to create a body of Statutes, for 
the government of the confederate States, they did not, could not contemplate from 
any example, either antient or modern, that the possibility existed of one man, 

* Vide Russell's Boston Gazette, Jan. 9th, 1804. 

12 



»a NOTES. 

being so metamorphosed by the force of an irregular ambition, as to sacrifice every 
liberal sentiment, to obtain a situation, to which the suffrages of his country never 
intended to exalt him ; and be, in the same moment, false, to his own honor, the 
delicate sympathy of friendship, and public virtue ! A nominal apology has been 
published, in the hope of extenuating the folly and turpitude of the person alluded 
to, but instead of repelling the charges with direct simplicity and ingenuousness ; 
the writer merely endeavors to make the criminality attach to other actors, in com- 
mon with his principal ; and proceeds to be personal and vindictive, and makes 
the affair more decidedly disgraceful, than it was, when he commenced his apology '. 

To avoid a repetition of such intriguing frauds, it was wisely proposed to amend 
thft section of Hie Constitution, which, it was found, could admit the formation of 
such mischief: this proposal was examined with the deliberation which its im- 
portance required, and having passed the higher Legislative Authorities, was sub- 
mitted to the approbation of the distinct States, where the preponderance of good 
sense and republicanism, made the ratification almost general. 

It must make an accurate observer of mankind, smile, when he sees the different 
modes of artifice, which have been exerted, to give a colouring to resistance, in this 
business ; and among these artifices, none have been more ludicrous than the refer- 
ence to prophecy : thus taking upon themselves to predict a consequence, which no 
authority could disprove, and calling forth the prejudices of ignorance, to assist 
them, in the hour of caballing, when they could not, with safety to their cause, re- 
monstrate with the reason of the public ! — They applied to the imagination, when 
they could not convince the judgment, and drew upon credulity to accept the notes 
of Imposture ! — In any nation, but this, there might be some danger in the perti- 
nacity of such cunning ; but here every citizen is acquainted with the elements of 
that free government, which he has himself authorised, and knows clearly, how to 
combine the alteration of a statute, with the imperious necessity, which makes that 
alteration indispensable. 

Many gentlemen, whose admiration of a Republican form of government, is very 
problematical, have, in the course of their arguments, against this amendment, re- 
curred to France, whose situation they are extrtmely fond of overcharging with 
misery : Some talk of the Gallic Caesar, and usurpation of supreme authority, in 
such a manner, as to leave no doubt where they wish the implication should rest : but 
this is ungenerous, as to the portraiture drawn, and bitterly unjust as to the sugges- 
tion of a possible similitude. — A Republican member of the Senate*, has truly and 
eloquently said " that France has not had the opportunity of sitting down, after the 
overthrow of her enemies, and forming a free constitution, in peace, as we had ; it 

* General Jackson. 



NOTES. yd 

was in the conflicts of faction, excited by foreign enemies, that the state of France 
was changed." — There is a Power, insolent and hoary in political guilt, which 
knows, that her corrupt system, cannot remain, if France is permitted to enjoy one 
interval of repose — and in every Republic, whether cis-atlantic or otherwise, she is 
diffusing her gold and her Machiavelian doctrine, to shake the purity of the vulner- 
able ; and is ever at her station, to give the watch-word of Disorder, when an op- 
portunity is presented by accident, or created by intrigue. 

It is far from our intention to be indelicate towards any of the legislative members, 
but it has appeared to us, that the longer the opposers of the amendment argued, the 
more confused the subject became : and as several of the gentlemen, alluded to, are 
not deficient of acuteness and strong discrimination, on other occasions, it seems 
somewhat extraordinary, that their powers of development should have failed them 
so wonderfully on this important subject — Indeed had they argued, until the day of 
judgment, they could never be brought to the conviction of the necessity for a meas- 
ure, which they, apparently, would not understand !— All Americans were convinced 
of the danger they had known and felt, of having a President forced upon them by 
intrigue, who was not intended, by the popular will, to be their Chief Magistrate ; 
and they likewise knew, that this strong act of perfidy, arose from the imperfection 
of a Constitutional provision : and of course, that this provision, required amend- 
ment to frustrate the operation of intrigue in future. — But it is not always con- 
venient for the British Faction, to understand the plain tendency of a plain axiom ; 
and, in pursuance of this indirect policy, they brought imaginary evils, in the fore 
ground of the picture, to counteract the necessity of aauulling the cause of an omin- 
ous evil, that had existed ; and that might very probably, be re-produced, by am- 
bitious and unprincipled men, unless cautionary measures were adopted for the 
amelioration of that cause. This explanation, we trust, is clear, honest and irre- 
futable, and must cling couvictively, to every republican bosom. 

The whole of Mr. Tracy's arguments against the amendment, amount, agreeably 
to our judgment, to no more than a decided disapproval to any alteration, that may 
make the designating principle of elective action, more palpable and comprehen- 
sive. Why Mr. Tracy should express so violent an objection to accommodating the 
popular capacity, in a point so materially connected with their dearest interests, is 
somewhat surprising ; or why his Party, should endeavor so obstinately to hold that 
in mysteriousness, which by a Constitutional effort, may be rendered plain and 
intelligible, is among those labours of a crooked and distempered policy, which 
savour more of the disappointment of an irregular hope, than the desire to establish 
the common suffrages, upon a foundation that is unequivocal. He has said much 
upon the relation of rights and principles, but what is the fruit of this amendment? 
Why simply and truly this ; to make the course of election so clear, that the principle 



94 NOTES. 

may not be misunderstood, or misapplied in the action, nor the rights of the elector 
suffer, in the confusion of political artifices. 

We remember a great man, in Europe, who once said, that he thought the in- 
fluence of Logic in argument, had done more to unhinge the just purposes of Truth, 
and Virtue, than could arise from a tissue of prominent falsehoods ; and we believe 
that this idea has been justified, in a wonderful degree, by the complex arguments, 
which have been used by those who resist this measure : by their adroitly contriving 
to make that inexplicable, which in ;in honest meaning, they cannot prove to be un- 
palatable, or unwelcome to the public. — These Jesuitical politicians seem to have 
much antipathy to plain meanings ; if they are not indulged in traverse failing, 
they are nothing, and if they are clearly understood, they would be undone ! 

There are others who affect a prodigious veneration for those provisionary articles 
of government, which have received the stamp of time and experience: although 
that time has been too limited to make its embraces venerable: and although expe- 
rience has proved that those articles are inadequate to their required purposes. — 
Such reasoners, or rather such as disport with reason, recal to our recollection, the 
story of the Sussex Clown, w ho would go to Church, through a lane, clogged with 
briars and brambles, notwithstanding the wiser part of the Parish, had made another 
road, perfectly commodious. — When the Clown was asked, why he should prefer in- 
convenience to ease: his apology, for being absurd, was, that his father, and his 
father's father, had followed that track, and he believed that they were full as wise 
as those who had mended their ways. 

Such a web of intriguing mischief might have been woven, at every ensuing elec- 
tion for President and Vice-President, had this Constitutional imperfection remained, 
that it were almost piteous in the majorities of the Senate and Legislature, to oblit- 
erate the best hope, which remained for the Tory Aristocracy, and to fix a period for 
their malicious industry. 

As the affectation of possessing an excessive piety, is generally assumed to hide 
the want of all morality whatever ; so is the affectation of these monarchists, for the 
preservation of the extreme integrity of the Constitution, a political cant, assumed, 
to hide their real detestation of it altogether. — However we need be under no violent 
terrors on this head, as it is evident from the result of the general sentiment, as ex- 
pressed at their several elections, that the people are firmly convinced, that if the 
Aristocracy had the power to seize the helm, we should have no Republican Consti- 
tution at all ; and that instead of debating deliberately and wisely, upon the virtu- 
ous fallibility of those, who framed our governing statutes or, on removing the im- 
perfections of one provision, we might expect a flagitious proposal, to render the 
Presidency, an office to be held, during life ; in order to feel the pulse of the nation, 
preparatory to their grand declaration for a monarchy, with all its concomitant 
pageantry, tyranny, distinctions, and limitless expence. 



NOTES. 95 

In our imperfect understanding, the loudest argument which has been used by 
the opponents to this measure, is the least tenable : namely, that the smaller States, 
will suffer, in comparison, with the greater States : whereas the truth is, that in 
proportion, as other States appear ; those which are now considered, as the more 
weighty, in the union, will lose much of their statistical importance, and the ap- 
prehended influence will diminish with the course of time. 

When any constitutional point of enquiry, may be discussed, among numbers, or 
become the object of private reflection, it must never be forgotten, by Americans, 
that they have their own honor, interest, and other advantages, peculiar to them- 
selves, involved in the due support of that Federal Compact, which is the basis of 
our national strength ; and that while they concede, with temperate anxiety to 
Constitutional amendments, which time and experience, may render necessary ; 
they should likewise resolve, to maintain that amendment against the fallacy and 
mischief of an interested misrepresentation. Every sublunary establishment, must 
be mutable, and in proportion as we grow rich and populous, and other States 
arise, in fraternal competition, the causes of that mutability will increase : under 
such circumstances, it will progressively devolve upon the Executive Authority, 
to provide efficient amendments, commensurate with the exigency. 

There are political zealots, in most deliberative assemblies, who make the violence 
of their arguments, an antidote to the mischief of their principles ; and by declaring 
more than subtlety would warrant, call Public Virtue to her post of observation — 
we refer to the declared abhorrent idea, that minorities should govern majorities ; 
this announcement is so fatal to popular dignity and universal good, that if any 
portion of it, is suffered to be intermingled, with a legislative article, the basis of a 
despotism will rapidly follow. But, in truth, they must be wholly blind, who do 
not peixeive a radical dispositon, in many of the enemies to our present enlightened 
government, to abridge the liberties of their fellow creatures, and make the many 
vassals to the few ! 

It is not possible that the citizens of America, or the reflecting part of mankind in 
general, can ever forget the past, and paralyzing effects of the Ex-Government ; the 
prominent measures, then pursued, all tended to the introduction and establishment 
of principles, that were subversive of the genuine spirit of our Federal Compact, 
about the preservation of which, the friends of that party, are now so raging !— It 
appears that they are affectedly squeamish, about splitting the hair of a letter of 
those laws, which must fluctuate agreeably to the necessity of rising circumstances : 
[in a country which is continually adding new relations to its original form] al- 
though, they were ruinously ardent in sacrificing the fundamental elements, of 
those laws, upon the altars of individual ambition. We had a standing Army and a 
Sedition Bill, to overawe the timid, and an increasing expenditure and consequent 



96 



NOTES. 



debt, to allay the hunger of the corruptible, and make patronage, without limits ! 
It is to the bold indecency with which those measures were enforced, that we are 
now indebted for an emancipation from all political fear ! 

The good sense of the People, will readily admit, that nc honest man, would wish 
that instance of suffrage to remain equivocal, in its direction, which could be ren- 
dered otherwise, without injury to that system of confederation, which in binding 
one state with the other, in a common benefit, makes the whole commanding and 
invulnerable — The attempt to shut out the light, evinces a desire to do wrong in the 
absence of the powers of discrimination — we have seen many cases of opposition to 
the proceedings of the government, but have never witnessd any, where the parties 
were so forcibly compelled to be ingenuous, when it was their duty to be candid ; 
and to resort to their fancy for an excuse, in stemming the currency of an open 
fact. 

It is a recorded truth, that this measure, which the aristocrats so vehemently 
reprobate, originated with their own body, during that delusion of the national 
mind, when they had considerable influence. — It was proposed by the legislature of 
Vermont, and supported and recommended by the legislature of Massachusetts: 
Yet those gentlemen, who sanctioned this alteration in the Constitution, four years 
ago, when a mischievous perversion of the national will, was only probable, have 
now fulminated against its adoption, although the mischief has been experienced! 

We have heard it loudly advanced, that this amendment, is calculated to make 
Mr. Jefferson, President for Life : If it were possible that this great man could be 
false to his momentous trust, it is not this amended provision, that could, in any de- 
gree assist him in a re-election : — His official support is dependent on the approba- 
tion of his grateful country ; and this proceeding only operates to make the path of 
duty, so clear, between the people, and the objects of their envied favor, that no 
art, no Jesuitism, in future, can torture, or suspend, or misdirect, the popular in- 
clination. — Mr. Jefferson now rests, more decidedly, upon his ability and patriotism, 
than heretofore ; and no elector can object to the alteration, who has discernment ; 
nor any candidate for the primary honors of the State, who is conscious that his 
integrity directs his action. 

Southern Influence. 
THE tory bloodhounds have been long yelping upon the dangers that may arise 
from Virginia or Southern Influence^ and to give colouring to this ideal peril, they 
have had recourse, as usual, to the most flagrant and bitter untruths : But even 
the letter of their infamy, on this despicable theme, is nothing, when compared with 
the deep villany that feeds their motives. Their aim is thoroughly diabolical, and 
goes not only to a separation of the eastern from the southern states, but to create a 



NOTES. 97 

civil war ! to introduce the most deadly antipathies in society, and cut the knot 
of amity asunder forever ! Yet these miscreants have the audacity to call them- 
selves Federalists ! Good Heaven forefend us from the perfidy of these untractable 
and cruel men, before whose limitless and unnatural ambition all the gentle con- 
siderations of the bosom, and all the nobler affections which spring from the love of 
our country, fall away and become extinct. They have dared to lift the parricidal 
arm against the solemn Compact of our brotherhood, our strength, and our glory. 
They would chace the sympathies from our nature, and enthrone the furies in the 
heart : they forego the consoling beatitudes of their God, 

And sweet Religion make, a rhapsody of words. 

We will now examine this assertion, by the incontestible evidence of facts, and 
prove that these base aspersions on the government are not only without foundation 
but palpably wicked and unjust. President Jefferson has manifested a candour 
in his nominations to office, which reflects dignity on his judgment. He has dis- 
dained to be swayed by a partiality for any particular State, in his enquiry after 
integrity and talent, but has generally invested those with authority whose fitness 
warranted the measure. Assuming the Potomack as a central line of the Union, 
we shall discover that his enemies have elevated his character for impartiality, by 
provoking this investigation of his discernment and liberal nature. He has in- 
dulged no local prejudices at the expence of his country's honor or security ; his 
ways have been the ways of wisdom, and his paths the paths of peace. In our 
opinion he has carried a tolerance of offence, in some instances, too far : no man 
should be permitted to enjoy an official station, under a mild government, that he 
would annihilate, in obedience to a British faction, if his powers were equal to his 
antipathies. The following list of names, acting under the appoinment of Mr. Jef- 
ferson, will be a complete refutatiou of all the calumnious roaring about an exclud- 
ing southern influence : * 

Northern. — Mr. Dearborn, (of Maine) secretary of war. — Mr. Lincoln, (of Mass.) 
attorney general. — Mr. Bowdoin, (of Mass.) appointed minister to Spain. — General 
Hull, (of Mass.) governor of the new territory of Michegan.— Mr. Granger, (of Conn.) 
postmaster-general. — Mr. Livingston, (of New-York) foreign ambassador. — Mr. 
Armstrong, (of do.) do. — Mr. Gallatin, (of Penn.) secretary of the treasury. — Mr. 
Smith, (of Mar.) secretary of the navy. 

Southern.— Mr. Madison, (of Virg.) secretary of state. — Mr. Monroe, (of do.) 
foreign ambassador.— Mr. Pinckney, (of S. C.) do.— Mr. Tucker, (of do.) treasurer of 
the United States. — Mr. Claiborne, (of M. T.) governor of Louisiana pro tern. 

These are the principal offices at the disposal of the President ; of the minor officers 
a majority are federal. " The officers of the navy, also, are in a large proportion 



98 NOTES. 

from the Northern States, and the same party. All this shows that the Administra- 
tion are not aiming at a preponderance of local influence : besides, the owners of 
the funds are mostly within the north, and yet the southern members of congress 
have in every instance promoted the credit of the public stocks. — But, above all, the 
secretary of the senate is a citizen of Boston. This department of the National 
Legislature is the deposit of the secrets of government. If then the Southern mem- 
bers had anything of a private nature, which ought not to be declared, would they give 
their votes for Mr. Otis, the father of a man who is outrageous in his opposition ? 
It is evident they trust to his honor and their own integrity. Either the secretary 
must know improper conduct, and become an agent in the transaction, or his son 
should be reproved for his designs to excite a jealousy between the states." 

" Virginia Domination has become a cant phrase among the federalists of New- 
England. As the President of the United States belongs to Virginia, and that State, 
being the oldest and largest in the Union, and almost unanimous in favor of the 
republican cause, has of course a leading influence in our national councils, it has 
become a principal but very despicable object of the opposition, to excite against 
them the prejudice, rivalship and envy of the northern states, particularly Massa- 
chusetts the largest state in New-England. Before we suffer ourselves to be in- 
fluenced by these insidious arts, let us review the conduct of our Virginian brethren, 
while Massachusetts and Virginia coincided in politics. To avoid all mistake 
and dispute about facts, we will take the statements of an impartial historian, Dr. 
Ramsay. 

The Parliamentary claim of a right to tax the Colonies, was the very point of our 
Revolutionary contest, and the stamp act in 1765, was the memorable occasion of 
bringing the principle to a virtual admission or determined opposition. " On its 
being suggested from authority, says the Historian, that the stamp officers would 
not be sent from Great-Britain ; but selected from among the Americans ; the Colony 
agents were desired to point out proper persons for the purpose. They generally 
nominated their friends, which affords a presumptive proof, that they supposed the 
act would have gone down. In this opinion they were far from being singular. That 
the colonists would be ultimately obliged to submit to the sta7np act was at first 
commonly believed, both in England and America. The framers of it, in particular, 
flattered themselves that the confusion, which would arise upon the disuse of writ- 
ings, and the insecurity of property, which would result from using any other than 
that required by law, would compel the colonies, however reluctant, to use the stamp 
paper, and consequently to pay the taxes imposed thereon. They therefore boasted 
that it was a law which would execute itself. By the terms of the stamp act, it was 
not to take effect till the first day of November, a period of more than seven months 
after its passing. This gave the colonists an opportunity for leisurely canvassing 



NOTES. 99 

the new subject, and examining it fully on every side. In the first part of this in- 
terval, struck with astonishment, they lay in silent consternation, and could not 
determine what course to pursue. By degrees they recovered their recollection. 
Virginia led the way in opposition to the stamp act. Mr. Patrick Henry brought 
into the House of Burgesses of that colony the following resolutions, which were 
substantially adopted. 

Resolved, That the first adventurers, settlers on this his majesty's colony and 
dominion of Virginia, brought with them and transmitted to their posterity, and all 
other his majesty's subjects, since inhabiting in this his majesty's said colony, all 
the liberties, privileges and immunities, that have at any time been held, enjoyed 
and possessed by the people of Great-Britain. 

Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by king James the first, the col- 
onies aforesaid, are declared and entitled to all liberties, privileges, and immunities 
of denizens, and natural subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been 
abiding and born within the realm of England. 

Resolved, That hi! majesty's liege -people of this his ancient Colony have enjoyed 
the rights of being thus governed by their own assembly, in the article of taxes, 
and internal police, and that the same have never been forfeited, or yielded up, but 
have been constantly recognized by the King and people of Britain. 

Resolved, Therefore, that the General Assembly of this Colony, together with 
his majesty, or his substitutes, have, in their representative capacity, the only ex- 
clusive right and power, to lay taxes and imposts, upon the inhabitants of this Col- 
ony, and that every attempt to vest such power in any other person or persons 
whatsoever, than the General Assembly aforesaid, is illegal, unconstitutional, and 
unjust, and hath a manifest tendency to destroy British, as well as American Lib- 
erty. 

Resolved, That his majesty's liege people, the inhabitants of this Colony, are not 
bound to yield obedience to any law, or ordinance whatever, designed to impose any 
taxation whatever upon them, other than the laws or ordinances of the General 
Assembly aforesaid. 

Resolved, That any person, who shall, by speaking or writing, assert or maintain, 
that any person or persons, other than the General Assembly of this Colony, have 
any right or power to impose or lay any taxation on the people here, shall be deemed 
an enemy to this his majesty's colony. 

Upon reading these Resolutions, the boldness and novelty of them affected one of 
the members to such a degree, that he cried out, " Treason ! Treason !" They were, 
nevertheless, well received by the people, and immediately forwarded to the other 
provinces. They circulated extensively, and gave a spring to all the discon- 
tented. Till they appeared, most were of opinion, that the act would be quietly 

13 



100 NOTES. 

adopted. Murmurs, indeed, were common, but they seemed to be such as would 
soon die away. The countenance of so respectable a Colony as Virginia, confirmed 
the wavering, and emboldened the timid. Opposition to the stamp act, from that 
period, assumed a bolder face. The fire of liberty blazed forth from the Press : some 
well judged publications set the rights of the Colonists in a plain but strong point of 
view. The tongues and the pens of the well informed citizens labored in kindling 
the latent sparks of patriotism. The flame spread from breast to breast, till the con- 
flagration became general. — 1 Vol. 58. 

In the dispute with the King and Parliament, Massachusetts took an active part. 
Riots ensued, in consequence of which both Houses of Parliament, by an address, re- 
quested his majesty to take measures for transporting every inhabitant of Massachu- 
setts Bay, whom the Governor might suspect to be guilty of Treason, in order that 
he might be tried, "within the realm of Great Britain, pursuant to the provision of 
the Statute of the 35 of King Henry the 8th." The Legislature of Massachusetts, 
against which the measure was immediately aimed, was not in session. The House 
of Burgesses of Virginia met soon after official accounts of it reached America ; 
and, considering the cause of their sister state of Massachusetts a common cause, 
set another spirited example of opposition, by Resolving (among other things) " that 
all trials for treason, or for any other crime whatsoever, committed in that Colony, 
ought to be before his majesty's courts within the said Colony ; and that the seizing 
any person residing in the said Colony, suspected of any crime whatsoever, commit- 
ted therein, and sending such person to places beyond the sea to be tried, was highly 
derogatory of the rights of British subjects." The next day, adds the Historian, 
Lord Botetourt, the Governor of Virginia, sent for the House of Burgesses and ad- 
dressed them as follows : "Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, 
I have heard of your Resolves, and augur ill of their effects. You have made it my 
duty to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly." — 1 Vol. 83. 

The Parliamentary duty on Tea was afterwards laid, and opposed on a fundamen- 
tal principle, as to the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies. In this opposition a 
quantity of Tea, belonging to the East-India Company, was destroyed in Boston 
harbour. In consequence of which an act of Parliament was passed, for stopping 
the trade and blocking up the harbour of Boston. On this subject the Historian ob- 
serves, " The patriots who had hitherto guided the helm, knew well, that if the other 
colonies did not support the people of Boston, they must be crushed, and it was 
equally obvious, that in their coercion a precedent, injurious to liberty, would be 
established. It was therefore the interest of Boston to draw in the other colonies- 
It was also the interest of the patriots in all the colonies, to bring over the bulk of 
the people, to adopt such efficient measures, as were likely to extricate the inhabit- 
ants of Boston from the unhappy situation in which they were involved. To effect 



NOTES. 101 

these purposes much prudence as well as patriotism was necessary. The other pro- 
vinces were but remotely affected by the fate of Massachusetts. They were happy, 
and had no cause, on their own account, to oppose the Government of Great Britain. 
That a people so circumstanced should take part with a distressed neighbour, at the 
risque of incurring the resentment of the mother country, did not accord with the 
selfish maxims, by which States, as well as individuals, are usually governed. The 
ruled are, for the most part, prone to suffer, as long as evils are tolerable, and in 
general they must feel, before they are roused to contend with their oppressors ; but 
the Americans acted on a contrary principle." — 1 Vol. 113. 

" In Virginia the House of Burgesses on the 26th of May 1774, resolved, that the 
first of June, the day on which the operation of the Boston Port Bill was to com- 
mence, should be set apart by the members as a day of fasting, humiliation and 
prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition, for averting the heavy calami- 
ties which threatened destruction to their civil rights, and the evils of a civil war — 
to give them one heart and one mind, to oppose by all just and proper means, every 
injury to American rights." On the publication of this resolution, the Royal Gov- 
ernor, the Earl of Dunmore, dissolved them. The members, notwithstanding their 
dissolution, met in their private capacities, and signed an agreement, in which, 
among other things, they declared, " that an attack made on one of their sister colo- 
nies, to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, was an attack made on all British 
America, and threatened ruin to the rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the 
whole be applied." — 1 Vol. 118. 

This was the second time the house of Burgesses incurred the displeasure of their 
royal Governor, and were dissolved for supporting their brethren of Massachusetts. 
. In those days, as well as lately, Virginia took a leading influential part in the 
republican cause, and acted with union, energy and success. But did the citizens of 
Boston — did the inhabitants of Massachusetts — did the people of New England then 
complain of " Virginia Domination ?" There was the same cause for such com- 
plaints then, as now. And they were indeed made. — Yes, Hutchison, Barnard, and 
other royalists and tories, at that day, made substantially the same complaints of 
Virginia influence, as the/ederalists do at present. But the whigs, particularly of 
Massachusetts, cooperated with their brethren of Virginia. " In the beginning of 
March, 1773, the House of Burgesses appointed a committee of eleven persons who 
should maintain a correspondence with her " sister colonies," on all the subjects 
which related to the common cause. — It was on this occasion, that the legislature of 
Massachusetts paid a just tribute of respect to the exertions of the Virginians. They 
came to several Resolves, and were careful, in the first, to speak highly in praise of 
Virginia. They appointed a committee of fifteen members, and directed them to 
" prepare a circular letter to the Speakers, requesting them to lay the same before 



102 



NOTES. 



their respective Assemblies, in confidence that they will comply with the wise 
and salutary resolves of the house of Burgesses of Virginia."— Gord. Hist. 1 
Vol. 224. 

A Virginian patriot, the illustrious Washington, by an unanimous appointment, 
took the command of our army, and, in harmonious concert wilh his brother officers 
and fellow-soldiers of all the states, conducted it to a successful and glorious issue. 
Through the commander in-chief, A r irginia had a superior influence in the military 
part of the revolution. — But that circumstance gave the other states no just cause of 
complaint. 

A momentous crisis in our Revolution was the Declaration of Independence. It 
was a bold but necessary measure The public mind was in a degree prepared for it 
by the " Common Sense" of Mr. Paine, the most popular pamphlet ever published 
in America. But the first official step towards it was taken by Virginia. The house 
of Burgesses of that state, on the fifteenth day of May, 1776, when there were pres- 
ent one hundred and twelve members, resolved unanimously, that their Delegates 
should be instructed to propose to Congress, that the United Colonies be, by that re- 
spectable body, declared free and independent States.*' The motion was accordingly 
made, June 7th, by Richard Henry Lee, one of their Delegates ;— and another of 
them, Thomas Jefferson, the chairman of the committee appointed for that pur- 
pose, drew the Declaration which was adopted and signed July 4th, 1776 — Rams. 
His. 1 Vol. 324— Gordon's, 1 Vol. 64. 

The articles of Confederation proving insufficient, a renovation of the Constitution 
became necessary. In this important measure, also, Virginia had the honour of 
taking the lead. " "While the country, says the elegant Historian, free from foreign 
force and domestic violence, enjoyed tranquillity, a proposition was made by Virginia 
to all the other States to meet in Convention, for the purpose of digesting a form of 
government, equal to the exigences of the Union : — The first motion for this purpose 
was made by Mr Madison, and he had the pleasure of seeing it acceded to by twelve 
of the States, and finally to issue in the establishment of a New Constitution, which 
bids fair to repay the citizens of the United States for the toils, dangers and wastes 
of the Revolution." — Ramsay's History, 2 Vol. 341. 

In addition to this remark of the Historian, it may be observed, that Mr. Madison, 
being a member of the General Convention, and one of the Committee of five, who 
sat in their recess, is said to have had a principal agency in drawing the Constitu- 
tion. He was one of the most prominent advocates for its adoption in the Conven- 
tion of Virginia, where he was opposed by the celebrated Orator, Mr. Henry. Af- 
terwards, in the first Congress under the new government, he moved the subject of 
Amendments, twelve of which were proposed by the two Houses of Congress, and 
ten of them ratified by a constitutional majority of the States. Those amendments 



NOTES. 103 

both improved the Constitution, and also reconciled a large proportion of the citi- 
zens of the United States, who were dissatisfied with the Constitution, as originally 
adopted, but who from that time have been most sincerely attached to it. 

General Washington, a Virginian, was unanimously elected the first President of 
the United States ; and he selected Mr. Jefferson for the confidential office of Sec- 
retary of State. Upon Mr. Jefferson's election to the Presidency, he appointed his 
bosom friend, Mr. Madison, to the same office, which he had himself holden under 
President Washington. — The administration receives the cordial support of Vir- 
ginia, and most of the other States. 

Citizens of New England, from this historical review, you see the conduct of 
Virginia, on the momentous questions of the Stamp Act and other measures of the 
British Parliament to tax the Colonies, the Declaration of Independence , and the 
Federal Constitution, and also in relation to the Parliamentary attacks upon Mas- 
sachusetts, and the sufferings of the town of Boston. As a State, till lately, Massa- 
chusetts harmonized and cooperated with her in the common cause of Liberty. Her 
politics continue, as from the beginning. Republican. Her members, her union, her 
polititical consistency and coincidence with the original sentiments of the mass of the 
American people, give her now, as formerly, great weight and influence in the legis- 
lative and executive councils of the nation.— The deviation from first principles, and 
a common policy, has been on our part :— As a State, we have been divided, alienated 
and opposed to the nation and the States in general, and have thus thrown away, for 
awhile, our national influence and consequence. Instead of retracing our steps, and 
regaining our former standing, by fair means, a disappointed, desperate faction 
among us are endeavouring, by all the little Anti-Washingtonian arts in their 
power to excite a State jealousy against Virginia. Of all possible schemes of oppo- 
sition this is the most ungrateful, illiberal and mean ; and as such, we ought indig- 
nantly to frown upon it." — {Pittsfield Sun.) 

Alexander Hamilton, the late Oracle of Anglo-Federalism, in a Report made as 
Secretary of the Treasury in 1792, gave his opinion to Congress, that "Ideas of a 
contrariety of interests between the Northern and Southern regions of the Union, 
are in the main as unfounded as they are mischievous. The diversity of circum- 
stances, on which such contratriety is usually predicated, authorizes a directly con- 
trary conclusion. Mutual wants constitute one of the strongest links of political 
connection ; and the extent of these bears a natural proportion to the diversity in 
the means of mutual supply. 

" Suggestions of an opposite complexion are ever to be deplored, as unfriendly to 
the steady pursuit of one great common cause, and to the perfect harmony of all the 
parts." 

Reader, compare these sentimenti with the ravings and railings, which you read 



104 NOTES. 

and heard from our northern Anglo federalists at the present day, against the 
Southern States in general, and Virginia in particular ; and learn what a mutable, 
inconsistent thing this federalism is! 

In the same Report Secretary Hamilton observed to Congress, the disturbed state 
of Europe, inclining its citizens to emigration, the requisite workmen will be more 
easily acquired, than at another time ; and the effect of multiplying the opportuni- 
ties of employment to those who emigrate, may be an increase of the number and 
extent of valuable acquisitions to the population, arts and industry of the country. 

To find pleasure in the calamities of other nations would be criminal ; but to bene- 
fit ourselves, by opening an asylum to those who suffer, in consequence of them, is 
as justifiable as it is politic. 

In conformity to these just sentiments a naturalization law was passed, under the 
faith of which foreigners persecuted like our ancestors in their native countries, emi- 
grated to the United States. In the progress of federalism, towards an hereditary 
system, as one of the means of changing the genius of our government, in order to 
accustom our citizens to the exercise of arbitrary power by degrees, it was thought 
adviseable to begin with foreigners ; for which purpose, a popular clamour was 
raised against them, and then an Alien Act passed, by which, notwithstanding the 
national faith pledged by the naturalization law, and in violation of the constitu- 
tional right of Jury trial, the President was vested with arbitrary power to inflict 
banishment, without indictment or trial, at his sovereign will and pleasure, upon 
any aliens whom he might think dangerous, and who had not obtained complete 
naturalization. The political tendency of this measure, to change the principle of 
our constitution, was artfully attempted to be concealed under the popular hue and 
cry raised against Aliens by the federal partizans, and joined in by thousands who 
did not perceive the object. 

The venerable and virtuous State of Massachusetts had been selected by the ene- 
mies to equal eights, as the focus of statistic sedition. It was her Capital that the 
late Gen. Hamilton designated as " the headquarters of Anti-republican principles ;" 
but recent honorable events have proved that it was a libel on her general character. 
She might be deceived but she could not be corrupted. Ihe insidious foes to the 
mild principles of our government, have employed every means to seduce her from 
an obedience to her own declarations, and to cloud her intellect with misrepresenta- 
tion. They affected to deplore an endangered state of religion, which had no exist- 
ence but in idea ; while they were actually destroying the food of morals by coarse 
detraction, and every art that falsehood, malevolence or folly could suggest. They 
held a majority of the people of this State, in an aristocratic slumber for several 
years, by continually administering deadly opiates, with the superscribed alluring 
appellation of " order aad good government." This fatal delusion was upheld by 



NOTES. 105 

consummate artifice and incessant intrigue, until it pleased Heaven to destroy this 
unnatural Anglo-tory endeavour, by the means which they had adopted for its sup- 
port. And the "sleeping Sampsons'" have at length awoke, and shown their 
strength. 

In the plenitude of a political lunacy, it was resolved that Mr. Ely of Springfield 
should openly move for a violation of the last governing testament of Washington, 
and create such a difficulty between the Northern and Southern states, as would 
contemplate, on its becoming a law of the land, The Dissolution of the UNION ! 
— Though every institute both divine and human, seemed to forbid the measure, it 
was squeezed through the Legislature of this Commonwealth, by a majority so limit- 
ed as scarcely to be indicative of approbation. All the Republicans were alarmed, 
and the moderate federalists began to ponder upon the disorganizing boldness of the 
proceeding. The sensible yeomanry argued with each other upon the misery that 
was in perspective : they well knew that a reciprocation of advantages was involved 
in the pure conservation of the Federal Compact, and that all and every State, from 
Saint Croix to the Mississippi, were bound by policy, honor and humanity, to re- 
sist this terrible inroad upon the common good. They well knew that New England 
was the carrier of the rich produce of the Southern department of the confedera- 
tion, who receive through the Northern states the produce of the Indies and of Eu- 
rope ; and that although the duties to the government are first paid here, that the 
consumer ultimately bears the weight of the impost. They know all this, and conse- 
quently saw the awful danger of Mr. Ely's attempt to derange the system, and 
make a political volcano of their parent State, from whence the destructive fires 
were to be belched forth upon her associated sisters, in legislation and strength. 
Their apprehension made them think with more depth and precision : that thought 
awakened their duty, when they immediately clung to "first principles," and ex- 
pressed their repugnance to the proposed innovation, by giving a decided majority 
against the promoters and friends of this calamitous attempt. 

It has been wittily said, of this Mr. Ely, that he digests his food better than he 
digests his ideas, and his personal weight gives to this observation the force of an 
acknowledged truth ; but his mental weight would not authorise an unqualified sus- 
picion that he had any agency in the formation of a project, which, if carried into 
effect commensurate with the desires of those who gave it sustenance if not birth 
might convulse this empire from Maine to Georgia. If once a fanatical spirit is 
infused in the organic mass of elementary principles of the American common- 
wealth ; if Northern can be opposed to Southern influence, in battle array ; if geo- 
graphical limitations can excite political antipathies ; if we can have played off in 
America, a miserable imitation of the blue and green factions in Constantinople as 
they have been eloquently described by the luminous Gibbon— If we are to have 



106 NOTES. 

the fable of the big endions and the little endions of Laputo, so happily conceived 
aDd exquisitely told by Dr. Swift, unfortunately realized, upon the fair bosom of 
this splendid and rising nation ; if conspirators, in their caucusses and closets, 
are hourly suffered to pollute public opinion, by multitudinous and atrocious false- 
hoods ; if the nauseating tale of a Virginia influence, is to be echoed and re-echoed 
until the abominable authors of this most infamous and chimerical slander, almost 
believe it to be true — why then we must bid adieu to our wooted repose, to our en- 
dearing sympathies — to private and public confidence — to the paternal admonitions 
of Washington, and to the order and harmony of our political systems, where each 
and every portion of territory answers and accords to the other, and the wants of a 
part, are exuberantly supplied by the industry and talents of the rest : so stands 
New-England, in relation to the southern states, and so stand the southern states in 
relation to New England. Nor can one planet disappear from the galaxy, without 
ruin or confusion to its dependent satellites. 

That all these, and many more and worse, would be the inevitable consequences 
of Mr. Elt's motion, if those who first conceived it, could be gratified in their 
wishes, we have no doubt : but we have a doubt whether the extreme solidity of 
this gentleman's intellectual organs ever did or could admit an impression adequate 
to the extent of the mischief involved in his disastrous motion. The Royal Faction 
are alternately despairing and hoping, wishing and fearing : one day trying the 
result of one wretched expedient, and on the next, of another— following circular 
letters with pamphlets, and pamphlets with political fastivals — decrying British 
influence in public, and giving it force and currency in private ! Tutored in ma- 
chiavelian stratagems abroad, and insidiously disseminating the same stratagems at 
home, to warp the public mind from its due regards for civil and religious freedom ; 
to give to the citizens forms instead of principles, and to teach them distrust of 
their own happiness, by insinuating a doubt of their own political sufficiency. — 
Such, these incendiaries would wish the people to become ; tame and insipid, be- 
lieving themselves to be, their own ivorst enemies — like the generous lion encaged, 
at once the sport and profit of his keeper !— These are the politics and their effects, 
fellow-citizens, of such motions. It is like a signal to battle, or like the morning 
gun which announces the approaching carnage of the dreadful day that is to suc- 
ceed the explosion. 

When Massachusetts was first settled, every circumstance in Europe, conspired to 
give a Eepublican tendency to the primitive inhabitants, which has never been in- 
terrupted or perverted, from its natural objects, the personal independence of the 
citizen, and the security of the government.— It has been a mistaken idea, cherished 
by British writers, and attempted, by them, to be imposed upon mankind, that these 
original settlers were nourished in their infancy, by the paternal care of that nation, 



NOTES. 107 

from which they descended j the contrary tendency of this assertion is too clear, 
however to be disputed ; for these unhappy aliens and emigrants, never came to 
this country from choice, but necessity, and were actually discharged on this inhos- 
pitable soil, by the convulsive efforts of the British nation, when the spirit of civil 
and religious liberty, was in the highest state of effervescence ; bringing with them 
an indignant sense of the wrong they had suffered, in the place of their nativity ; 
outcast and forlorn : enraged and persecuted, they settled here as in a place of 
refuge, from the contempt and hatred of their oppressors — agreeably to the light of 
experience, and the influence of the political knowledge which they then possessed, 
every measure and every institution became republican, from their natural attach- 
ment to that cause, and to those principles, which produced the occasion — The hun- 
dred hills of Massachusetts became the mons sacer to these determined plebians, 
who, however very unlike the Plebians of Rome, never could be persuaded again, to 
be corrupted by the arts, or enchained by the force, of that government, which had 
systematically galled them, by every means in their power : through all the varied 
scenes of political history, it appears, as far as our examination has reached, that 
the People of this state may be deceived, but they cannot be enslaved. 

Alarmed by the hardy spirit of those original Republicans, the British adminis- 
tration, adopted an early system of espionage, and detached numerous emissaries, 
to seduce, or intimidate the People — among these, one Randolph was conspicuous, 
whose letters may be found in the third volume of Hutchinson's History of Massa- 
chusetts ; these letters, were continued from Sept. 20, in 1676, to May 16th, in 1689, 
when the last of them, was dated in the Gaol of Boston ! where this miscreant had 
been confined, in one of those revolutionary paroxisms, when the sovereign people 
of this State, (always vigilant and jealous of their privileges,) took the liberty of 
vindicating their own rights, to the discomfiture of the guilty. — A perusal of these 
letters, in illustration of our first position, would demonstrate the perfect scorn, with 
which every occurrence relating to New-England was held by this courtly mission- 
ary : we shall select only one instance, among a number, taken from a letter, under 
the date of June 14, 1682 : in this letter Randolph has asserted, as follows, " the 
first adveuturers are either all dead, or their children driven out of their property, 
by their fathers' servants, or else they have become so few and inconsiderable, as 
to be involved in obscurity ; and as for all the persons, concerned in the faction 
here" for so the inhabitants of New-England have been invariably stigmatized in 
Great Britain, " I know but one man, who was not a servant, or a Servant's son, who 
now governs the governor and the whole country." — Randolph calls the people of 
this town Bostonecrs, and Usurpers, and charges them with a design to form an 
independent Commonwealth, denying any appeals to Britain ; in the true spirit of 
British policy he affects to treat its military strength with derision, and undertakes 

14 



108 NOTES. 

with 500 of his Britannic Majesty's guards, to subdue and drive them from the Pro- 
vince, as he proceeds to say, that Mr. Levf.rett, is the only old Soldier in the Colo- 
ny, he having served, in the late Rebellion, under Oliver Cromjell. 

All these facts go to prove the spirit of their ancestors, and we know of noth- 
ing that can demonstrate any chaDge among these Republicans, from lhat deter- 
mination and virtue, which their Fathers possessed : with the light of experience 
then blazing before our eyes, and directing our course, we smile at the idea that the 
Republican party will not be paramount: however modified or suppressed, this 
virtue cannot be extinguished, and if the arts of Anglo Federalism, could bring it 
into action, woe be to those who should create the difficulty ; the firm minority of 
33,000, would, in such a crisis, soon become the majority, and the Republicans, when 
it was "their cue to fight," w ould not want a prompter.— Let the Tory Journals 
then boast of their strength in this state— let the doziug Sampsons, in their cups, 
charged with the Falernian grape, prophane the religion which they affect to vener- 
ate, and artfully insinuate opposition, when they really meditate REBELLION, in 
order if possible to effect a separation from the Southern States !— But let them 
recollect that they are attentively watched, in all their machinations, and if they 
should once dare to lift their parracidal hands against the peace of their coun- 
try, the same magnanimity of heart, which of old, made Randolph and Andros 
prisoners, (and of late, cleared this State, of the worst of malefactors, although 
born and bred in its bosom ;) if once roused into action, would soon add new exam- 
ples to the catalogue of domestic traitors, and make them as execrable, as they are 
now impotent. 

We say again that the People of this State, are rapidly awakening to a due sense 
of their true interests, and that no man in it dare publicly to avow a wish to dis- 
sever the union— not will all the subtleties, that have been so industriously prac- 
tised to renew a little provincial prejudice, against the sister State of Virginia, serve 
any other purpose, but that of exposing the perpetrators to general detestation, 
when the point is rightly understood. 

It is no less honorable, to the character of this nation, than true, that in that ar- 
duous struggle for liberty and independence, which marked the American revolu- 
tion, there never was the least disagreement : there never was even a symptom of 
jealousy among the states, composing the Original Confederation. Not, that the 
Anti-revolutionary faction, vulgarly called the Tory Party, bribed by foreign gold ; 
seduced by foreign influence, or corrupted by the vain, illusory hope of advancing 
their private fortunes on the ruin of their country; did not practice every artifice, 
without regard to truth, reason, or decency, to weaken the springs of opposition to 
the claims of the British Government, and to suffocate, in its cradle, the herculean 
infant of Liberty ; which even then, alone and unprotected in the alarming conflict, 



NOTES. 109 

either attracted the notice, or excited the admiration, of the wise and enlightened in 
every part of Europe. 

The idea of rival or contending interests between the Great and the Little 
States, had not then an existence : or if, by chance some wretched, mean and hypo- 
critical miscreant, but hesitatingly touched this string of national discord, his name 
was given to the winds of heaven, to be wafted in infamy through every part of the 
union — Not Galloway — nor Hutchinson, not the veriest sycophant of British power, 
had then ventured to insist upon this topic, so fertile of the plagues of faction, and 
of anarchy ; provided it could have obtained a residence in the American mind. The 
discovery of this imaginary evil was reserved for a more tranquil and a more happy 
period — It is Mr. Tracy of Connecticut, and a few benighted followers of this prophet 
of Sedition, who, in the fulness of political necromancy, have had the unrivalled glory 
of conjuring from the gulph of despair, this horrid demon of the imagination. — In 
the progress of the Revolution, Delaware reposed in security, by the side of Pe7in- 
sylvania ; Rhode Island was cherished by Massachusetts, and the Jerseys, after 
being pillaged by the British mercenaries, found relief in her more populous and ef- 
fective neighbours — Local boundaries have been fixed by accident, and are now con- 
secrated by the force of time and habit ; and it is only on the nation's will and 
power : and on the natural and constitutional rights and interests, of the States, 
and of the individuals who compose them, that the peace and prosperity, of this ris- 
ing Republic, is built and established as on a rock ! — Away then with this miserable 
pretence: Away then with this insulting distinction of the Great and Little 
States, having discordant or even varying interests: — The sovereignty of each is 
equally and inviolably guarded against injury or diminution ; and what is good 
for one is good for all. 

This project of effacing the best and wisest provisions of the Constitution, is a new 
thing, that was engendered, in secret, and cast instantaneously upon our astonished 
enses ! — It burst upon us, like a black, terrific cloud, at noon day, obtruding upon 
the beautiful sunshine, and clear atmosphere, surcharged with all the elements of 
destruction. — A Guy Fawkes was found to blow us into the air, with all the settled 
orders of the State : our peace and union and glory, our funds and credit, both pub- 
lic and private : our consistency, our character, our laws, our security, and our love 
for each other, were to be sacrificed in this novel explosion ! for out of this dreadful 
project every evil might arise, but certainly, no benefit, either to the Union, the par- 
ticular States, or the individual Citizens ! 

Let us try the public mind, upon the chord of interest. — There are 14,000 public 
creditors, and 5000 of those belong to Massachusetts, which owns more of the public 
debt, than Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Georgia, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Mississippi ! — Should this have no influence upon the 



110 NOTES. 

wise and independent people of this province ? — In the event of a public commotion, 
every State must take care of its own creditors, living within its jurisdiction. — In 
regard to numbers, they run thus : Virginia and Kentucky contain 1,100,000 persons, 
700,000 of which are white. — Massachusetts and Maine contain only 575,000. — Penn- 
sylvania contains upwards of 000,000 persons— and the Constitutions, of 16 out of 17 
States duly recognize the antient distinction of Freemen and Servi : considering 
such a recognition, as indispensably necessary to the tranquillity, preservation and 
strength of the whole Federal Union, whose fundamental principle of government, is 
dependent on the ratio of representation and taxation by numbers ; which is the key 
stone of the Constitution. 

It is not a geographical line, or territorial boundary : — It is not a circumstance 
resting on this or that po ; nt of the compass — It is not a dissimilitude of little inter- 
ests among the distant, but irreproachable members of the great political family — It 
is not the necromantic efficacy of a few miserable terms of cabalistic origin — It is 
not the merely local distinction of southern or northern states, or the deadly attempt 
to exasperate Virginia against Massachusetts — It is not by any management of in- 
trigue or disaffection to the peace, increasing prosperity and happy establishments 
of the nation, among a remnant of disappointed pious men, and their infatuated par- 

tiZans THAT CAN OB SHALL CONVULSE THE SOLID FABRIC OF THE UNION ! 

Louisiana. 

The malignant, but absurd manner, in which the Anglo-Federal Faction, have 
questioned the policy of possessing Louisiana, is the most damning proof of their 
inveteracy to our civil and religious liberties, and of their servile devotion to the 
views of the British Government that has occurred : first, they laboured hard to 
make it the source of a foreign war, but disappointed in that mad desire, they at- 
tempted to invalidate the authority of France in regard to its disposal ; but as quiet 
possession was admitted by the official representatives of Spain, as well as France, 
they groaned with dismay, until the temporary provisions for its regulation under 
the American supremacy, were submitted to the approbation of the Congress ; then, 
with a malignant ardor, they brought every article to the rack of sophistry, and by 
insisting loudly, on the fallacy of means that had never been tried, ungenerously 
expected to excite murmurs against the best possible mode, which human sagacity 
could cherish, for the safe arrangement of such chaotic elements of grandeur. — What 
additional advantages would these enemies to our Government desire, for the people 
of Louisiana? they have equal laws, freedom of religious worship, the trial by jury, 
the benefit of the Habeas Corpus, and every immunity that can be enjoyed by men 
who are taking a probationary station in the grades of Liberty, to qualify them 
for a fuller enjoyment of its felicities — The force of habit, is wonderfully powerful, 



NOTES. Ill 

and men, may be found (even in the Eastern States) who would rather do homage to 
a Tyrant, for the privilege to breathe ; in order, that they might tyrrannize over 
their band of vassals ; than stand erect, as men on a basis of comparative equality, 
with the mass of human kind — As this is an unquestionable, though a melancholy 
fact, what could the Congressional Power do, under such extraordinary wants, but 
go forwards ; with a cautious, but increasing confidence ; and as the coast has never 
been navigated by Freedom, to throw the lead, as they advance towards legisla- 
tive perfection. 

In bestowing civil and religious liberty upon a people, who have not been accus- 
tomed to their enjoyment, we can scarcely exercise too much circumspection ; like 
persons who have been enfeebled by a long course of disease, it is expedient that we 
should regulate our cordials and anodynes by the appearances of convalescence, and 
not endanger the vital principle, by an influx of viands too suddenly administered. 
— The friends of the executive authority must perceive that they are placed in a 
situation of unprecedented responsibility; to emancipate the inhabitants of a pro- 
vince, who have been long enslaved by the harsh institutes of prescriptive force, and 
that in the execution of this godlike endeavour, much peril may arise, as resulting 
from the prejudices of custom, and much more from a domestic opposition, issuing 
from villany, in the knavish, and from misconception, in the unwise. 

Sir Wm. Blackstose, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, makes the 
rights of persons, to consist, principally, "in the enjoyment of personal security, of 
personal liberty, and of private property: so long as these remain inviolate," con- 
tinues this legal sage, " the subject is perfectly free : for every species of compulsive 
tyranny and oppression must act in opposition to one or other of these rights, having 
no other object upon which it can possibly be employed." 

The conditional frailty of men, comprises three states ; Innocence, suspicion and 
guilt : In innocence, he is to be protected ; in suspicion, he is to be circumscribed ; 
and in guilt, he is to be punished, with a reference to mercy — From a good govern- 
ment two essential points are required : Privileges to be maintained, and a power 
commensurate with that expected support — That being the relative position of the 
ruler and the community, it is the duty of all men, who mean well to their fellow 
citizens, to take all the bearings, obligations and infirmities of our nature, within 
the scale of their understanding, before they presume to pass judgment on matters 
of such high moment to the world — The truth is, that the whole proceeding of the 
Executive Authority, relative to Louisiana, is the most glorious circumstance of Mr. 
Jefferson's glorious life : — It was conceived in wisdom, was organized by benevolence, 
and will be sustained by happiness and honor. 

" What are the boundaries of Louisiana," as acquired by the United States from 
France, by the late treaty of cession? This point, independent of any connection it 



112 NOTES. 

may have with the ratification of the convention, is extremely important. In order 
to exhibit this view the more distinctly, it is necessary to go back to an early period 
of the colonization of Louisiana. 

In the year 1673, M. M. Joliet, and Marquette, two French Canadians, excited 
by the information of the Indians, explored and struck the Mississippi, which they 
descended to the Arkansas. Their representations awakened the curiosity of M. de 
la Sale, who, in the year 1680, under the permission of the French government, ex- 
plored the Mississippi. On the lower part of the Illinois he garrisoned a fort called 
Crevecour ; and he sent father Hennepin down the Mississippi, until he reached the 
ocean. In 1682, M. la Sale, and M. Jonti, went down the river with sixty men, 
named the country Louisiana, built a fort in the Chickasaw territory, 60 leagues 
below the Ohio, by the name of Prudhomme. M. la Sale then returned to France. 
The French government, entering with ardour, into his scheme of forming settle- 
ments along the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, from sea to sea, placed under his 
direction four vessels, with men and stores. He sailed in 1634 ; but missing the 
mouth of the Mississippi, landed on the 18th of February, in the Bay of St. Bernard. 
Here he made two successive establishments. 

About this time the Chevalier Tontito, descended the mouth of the Mississippi, 
and on ascending the river formed a permanent settlement on the Arkansas. Not 
long after this period several other small settlements were made by enterprising 
Frenchmen. 

In 1689 war commenced between France and Spain, which lasted till 1697, during 
which period nothing appeared to have been done by France to succour her colony. 
In 1648, M. D'Iberville was dispatched as governour. He established two settle- 
ments, one at Isle Massacre, which he called Isle Dauphin, and the other at Mobile. 
It may be proper to observe that during the war, in 1796, Spain had taken post at 
Pensacola. 

From these facts it follows that France enjoyed the actual and undisturbed posses- 
sion of the coast from the Mobile to the Bay of St. Bernard, and from the mouth of 
the Mississippi to the Illinois, which, together with other territory, comprises what 
is now called West Florida, but which theD, together with the country as far as 
Canada, went by the common name of Louisiana. 

In this condition things stood, when Louis XIV. by letters patent, on the 14th 
Sept. 1712, granted to M. Crozat, the exclusive commerce of this country for fifteen 
years. This document is important, as it contains the first formal recognition of the 
extent of the French possessions. The extracts in point, are as follows : 

" Louis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre : To all who shall see 
these Letters, Greeting. The care we have always had to procure the welfare and 
advantage of our subjects have induced us, notwithstanding the almost continual 



NOTES. 113 

wars which we have been obliged to support from the beginning of our reign, to 
seek for all possible opportunities of extending and enlarging the trade of our Amer- 
ican colonies, we did in the year 1683 give our orders to undertake a discovery of 
the countries and lands which are situated in the northern part of America between 
New France and New Mexico. And the Sieur de la Sale, to whom we committed 
that enterprise, having had success enough to confirm a belief that a communica- 
tion might be settled from New France to the Gulf of Mexico by means of large 
rivers ; this obliged us immediately after the peace of Ryswick to give orders for 
the establishing a colony there, and maintaining a garrison, which has kept and 
preserved the possession, we had taken in the very year 1633 of the lands, coasts 
and islands which which are situated in the gulph of Mexico, between Carolina on 
the East, and Old and New Mexico on the West. But a new war having broke 
out in Europe shortly after, there was no possibility, till now, of reaping from that 
new colony the advantages that might have been expected from thence, because the 
private men, who are concerned in the sea trade, were all under engagements with 
otlw colonies which they have been obliged to follow: And WHEREAS upon in- 
formation we have received concerning the disposition and situation of the said 
countries known at present by the name of the Province of Louisiana, we are of 
opinion that there may be established therein a considerable commerce, so much the 
more advantageous to our kingdom in that there has hitherto been a necessity of 
fetching from foreigners the greatest part of the commodities which may be brought 
from thence, and because in exchange thereof we need carry thither nothing but the 
commodities of the growth and manufacture of our kingdom ; we have resolved to 
grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana to the Sieur Anthony Crozat, our 
councellor, Secretary of the Household, Crown and Revenue, to whom we entrust 
the execution of this project. We are the more readily inclined hereunto, because 
his zeal and the singular knowledge he has acquired in maritime commerce en- 
courage us to hope for as good success as he has hitherto had in the divers and 
sundry enterprises he has gone upon, and which have procured to our kingdom 
great quantities of gold and silver in such conjunctures as have rendered them very 
welcome to us. 

"For these reasons being desirous to show our favour to hira, and to regulate the 
conditions upon which we mean to grant him the said commerce after having de- 
liberated this affair in our Council, of our certain knowledge, full power, and Royal 
authority, We by these Presents, signed by our hand, have appointed and do appoint 
the said Sieur Crozat, solely to carry on a trade in all the lands possessed by us, and 
bounded by New Mexico, and by the lauds of the English Carolina, all the estab- 
lishments, ports, havens, rivers, and principally the port and haven of the Isle 
Dauphin, heretofore Massacre : the river St. Lewis, heretofore called Mississip- 



114 



NOTES. 



pi, from the edge of the sea as far as the Illinois, together with the river of St, 
Philip, htretnfore called the Missonries, and St. Jerome, heretofore called Ova- 
bache, with all the. countries, territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which 
fall directly or indirectly into the part of the river St. Lewis. 

"The ARTICLES— 1st— Our pleasure is, that all the aforesaid lands, countries, 
streams, rivers and islands, be and remain comprised under the name of the gov- 
trnment of Louisiana, which shall be dependent upon the general government of 
New France, to which it is subordinate : and further that all the lands which we 
possess from the Illinois be united, so far as occasion require to the general govern- 
ment of New France, and become part thereof, reserving, however to ourselves the 
liberty of enlarging as we shall think fit the extent of the government of the said 
country of Louisiana." 

This is a solemn declaration that the waters running directly or indirectly into 
the Mississippi, and the country they embrace, constituted the province of Louisiana. 
Within these limits France continued without disturbance to extend her settlements 
till the year 1763. During this period were formed the treaties of Rj-swick in 1697, 
of Utrecht in 1713, and of Rastadt in 1714, to which Spain was a party, and which 
in none of their provisions invalidate the rights of France. 

In 1718, the French took Pensacola from Spain, to whom it was restored at the 
peace of 1719; since which the Perdido, between Mobile and Pensacola, has been 
the acknowledged boundary between Louisiana and Florida. 

The boundaries of Louisiana, then as held by France, were the coast and islands 
from the Perdido to the Rio Norte ; up that river to its source ; thence to the 
highlands and round the sources of the Missouri and Mississippi, and their waters 
to the Alleghany mountains, along those mountains and the high lands surround- 
ing the waters of the Mobile to the head of the Perdido, and down that river to the 
ocean. 

There was, it is true, a collision between these claims and those of the English 
colonies, whose charters extended from sea to sea ; but these interfering claims 
■were adjusted by the treaty of Paris of 1763; by which the Mississippi and Iber- 
ville were made the limits of the English possessions on the East, and Louisiana on 
the West. 

Thus far then, that is to the year 1763, there is no doubt that what is now denomi- 
nated West Florida, was a part of Louisiana 

To the war which commenced between France and England in 1755, Spain in 1762 
became a party on the side of France. England having been so successful as to 
conquer a considerable portion of the Island of Cuba from Spain negotiations were 
entered into for a peace. In these negotiations Great-Britain required Florida and 
that part of Louisiana between the Iberville and the Perdido, in exchange for Cuba. 



NOTES. 



115 



To enable Spain to offer these as an equivalent, France, by a secret treaty dated 
November 3, 1762 ((he same day on which the preliminary treaty was signed) con- 
sented to cede to Spain all Louisiana. By the definitive treaty, signed on the 10th 
February, 17G3, France ceded to England all Louisiana east of the Mississippi, ex- 
cept the Island of New-Orleans ; which with the remainder of th" province she 
coded to Spain. The cession to England, although formally on the part of France 
(for the treaty between France and Spain was still secret) was substantially made 
by Spain, who had become the real proprietor of all Louisiana. 

England immedialely divi ".ed her newly acquired possessions into two distinct 
governments ; to one she gave the name of West Florida, which embraced the tract 
west of the Apalachicola : and to the other, embracing the residue of her posses- 
sions, she gave that of East Florida. This is the first that we hear of West Florida, 
ft being a name given by Great-Britain to a subdivision of her territory. 

At the close of the American war in 17S3, Great-Britain restored to Spain Florida, 
and the country east of the Iberville. Spain, on taking possession, continued, with 
some modification, the English arrangements, placing, however, West Florida under 
the jurisdiction of the governour of Louisiana, who resided at New-Orleans; and 
since that time this territory, as well in publick instruments, as in gene r al conver- 
sation, has gone by the names of Louisiana or West Florida, sometimes the one and 
sometimes the other name being used. 

On the 1st of October, 18U0, by the treaty of St. Ildefonso, Spain receded to France 
the "colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent that it actually has in 
the hands of Spain — that it had when FraDce possessed it — and such as it ought to 
be after the treaties passed subsequently between Spain and other states." 

On the 30th of April 1803, France ceded to the United States all the territory 
which she had thus acquired from Spain. 

These are the facts of which a decision is to be made whether the cession by France 
to the United States does, or does not embrace that portion of country called West 
Florida ? 

In thefrst place Spain stipulates to recede Louisiana with the same extent that 
it actually has [in 1S0O] in the hands of Spain. To determine the import of this 
stipulation it is only necessary to ascertain the extent of country embraced by the 
term Louisiana. It has been clearly shown that previous to the ces.-ion of France 
to Spain, Louisiana extended to the Perdido. Had any thing occurred previously 
to the date of the treaty of St. Ildefonso, to contract its limits? If nothing had 
occurred, the limits must be considered as unaltered. That portion of territory, 
ceded in 1763 to Great-Britain, was receded to Spain in 1783, with the new name of 
West Florida, given by England. Restored to Spain, although this name was not 
formally dismissed, the territory which it covers, was re-annexed to the government 

15 



116 NOTES. 

of Louisiana, and the old arrangements, previous to its cession to England re-in- 
stated. By these arrangements Louisiana, as to its e stent, was replaced in the 
same situntion it occupied previous to the cession of a part of it to Great-Britain, 
which was ihe same with that it held when possessed by France under whose ar- 
rangements West Florida f rmed a part of it. 

But as if solxitous to remove all ambiguity, the treaty proceeds to stipulate, in 
the second place that Louisiana shall be ceiled in the same extent it had when 
France possessed it (that is, previously to the year 17(53). Now the fact is that 
France never possessed this province, with any extent which did not include the 
English province of West Florida — It niny have occurred to the framers of the 
treaty of St. Ihlefonso, that doubts might arise as to the meaning of the term " the 
province of Louisiana." after the cession of a prt of it to Great Britain, and its 
recession to Spain. Hence the propriety of dissipating all such doubts, by declaring 
that the new cession should be in the same extent it had when France possessed 
it. This effectually set a«ide all regard to the regulations of England. Supposing, 
then, Ihpjirst stipulation to be of doubtful import, the second, so plain as not to 
admit of any other construction, comes in to remove all doubts. For it is an 
established principle of construction, that where there are two passages tending to 
the same end, one of which is doubtful, and the other clear, the last shall prepon- 
derate. Ihe denial of this construction to the stipulation will be tantamount to 
saying that it shall have no meaning at all, which in so solemn an instrument as 
a treaty, and on so important an occasion as the transfer of territory, is altogether 
inadmissible. 

In the third place it is stipiilated that the cession shall be such as it ormht to 
be after the treaties passed subsequently between Spain and other states — that 
is, sub.-equently to the cession by France, which was in the year 1762. Now, sub- 
sequently to this was formed the treaty of 1795 between Spain and the United States, 
by whicli the former confirmed to the latter a degree of latitude (from 32 to 31 de- 
grees) which she had alleged to be a part of Louisiana uuceded to France, and con- 
sequently belonging to her. 

According to these stipulations, taken together. Spain ceded Louisiana to Frauce 
exactly as France possessed it previous to the year 1763, with the only exception of 
a reservation of the rights acknowledged by Spain to attach to the United States, 
and in this precise shape France thus possessed of Louisiana, lias ceded it to the 
United States. If the facts we have stated, and the inferences deduced from 
them be correct, it follows that the Perdido is the boundary of Ltui-iana, and 
consequently that West Florida is a part of the cession to the United States. — Nat. 
Intel. 



NOTES. 



117 



la the second inauguration of Mr. Jefferson, we have full cause for National 
Gladness. It will form a great and consoling sera, when in limes unborn, the 
friends of virtue shall recur to Ihis event, as bearing equal honor to the discernment 
of the people and the integrity of their First Magistrate. Such concurring emana- 
tions of popular good sense and moral gratitude, we are confident in affirming, have 
never been recorded in history. Among such men, the residence of Liberty may be 
secure ; their deep knowledge of right will preserve her from the machinations 
of declared foes, and their temperance will guard her from the fatal excesses of 
enthusiasm. 

In the wide rejoicings on that proud event, we connect the dangers that we have 
past with the felicities that we embrace. In returning thanks to heaven for its 
providential interposition in our favor, by rescuing us from the chains of an aristo- 
cratic, unnatural and cruel faction, and thereby restoring our dignity as a people, 
we cannot refrain from mingling our tears witli our consolation. Like sea-beaten 
mariners who have escaped total destruction, wliile we kiss the land that is firm in 
our support, we cannot take a retrospective view of the fragments of the wreck 
without horror ! 

It hath been lamentably asserted, by a celebrated philosopher of the old world, 
(Charron) that there is no reward or honor assigned unto those who know how to 
encrease or preserve human nature: all honors, greatness, riches, dignities, em- 
pires, triumphs and trophies, are appointed for those ouly, who know how to afflict, 
trouble or destroy it. And this woeful assertion is correct, so fir as regards the 
ruling propensities of every part of the globe but this singularly happy nation. It 
is here, and here alone, where reason and justice seem to have their due establish- 
ment. In Britain you see a sp'endid court, surrounding a monarch, whose restrict- 
ed intellect forms no impediment to his behest in governing. Around this royal 
instance of infirmity, the mean, but haughty sycophants revolve, like satellites of 
power: but, as this local grandeur is inhumanly impressive, so the consequence 
upon the community is inhuman penury. The many crouch and shudder before the 
few, and even those gallant spirits are starved into unconditional submission to 
privileged viilany and partial law-*, wh > have discernment to ascertain the extent 
of their wretchedness ! — We thank the Supreme Being, that our political state is 
far otherwise. In this mild but mighty confederation of Sister States, the people 
can express their sovereign will towards their magistrates; their eternal right to 
ru!e is interwoven with their e'ective franchises ; their jurisprudence embnees the 
good of all conditions in society, and, when a dereliction from the generous prin- 
ciples of the Federal Compact is directly or indirectly displayed, by their first ser- 
vant, they can openly cashier the traitor to their independence. The ministry of 
heaven are not insulted with a jure dlvtno ; and we fervently hope and trust it will 



118 NOTES. 

be long, very long, before the minings of corruption, or any irregular motive of 
ambition, arising from the incessant struggles of pride and wealth to be predomi- 
nant, shall introduce that aristocratic leaven in our system, that must ultimately 
lead to the overthrow of our liberties, by depriving the Citizen of his equal rights 
and natural importance. 

There being an evident and declared desire to establish an order of nobility in the 
United States, by the Hamiltonian faction, and as that desire has not been so 
openly manifested in any other portion of this Union, as New England, where the 
habitudes of life seem most inimical to such an arrogant order, we shall present a 
flying statement of the origin of that domineering body among the Romans. The 
first Patricians or Nobility of Rome, who were sublimated with that title, were the 
children and descendants of the hundred senators named by Romulus (Livius Titus, 
lib. i.) Lucius Brutus. The Dictator, Cresar, and the Emperors Augustus and 
Claudius created others, upon the principle that the ancestors of the parties had 
rendered vast services to their country ; (Suetonius & Tacitus) but we find no re- 
corded good of this body, corporately considered, although there are many instances 
of their insolent folly. The puppy Clodius, who was of this order, had the pre- 
sumption to call Cicero, the father and conservator of his country, the clown of 
Arpinum : a similar affront was offered to the great Coi'iolanus, {llle arator Arpi- 
nas, et manipularis Imperator) because he was a general extracted from the pur- 
suits of husbandry — and this is the language of Pliny. The same unworthy spirit 
prevailed in the memorable " reign of terror," when the advocates for an American 
nobility stigmatized the illustrious Franklin with the vile appellation of " Old 
Lightning- Rod .'" We had a self-created peerage here, who, iu a tadpole state, 
were directing their mean obloquies against the pures', wisest and bravest defend- 
ers of our common rights. Thfy huddled together into a paltry mass, and drew a 
circle of distinction aud extinction around them, to separate themselves from the 
Farmer and Mechanic, whom they unblushingly avoided and reprobated as " the 
rabble" — after all this fully and madness, they affect to wonder that they have lost 
the regards and confidence of their fellow citizens! They affect to wonder that the 
people clung to Mr. Jefferson as their best point of hope in the day of trouble ; that 
they called him to the chair of state with unprecedented acclamations and unanim- 
ity, imploring the Creator to bless his life, that he might consolidate and reunite 
their shattered interests, and fulfil the mission of benevolence. Had not the elec- 
tion of Mr. Jefferson taken place thus timely, we should even now have been trod- 
den under the feet of a monied aristocracy, who would have had all the Jierte and 
repulsion of excluding arrogance, without the accompaniment of those graces which 
can render distinction tolerable. 



NOTES. 119 

'Twas not the spawn of such as these, 

That dyed, with Punic blood, the blushing seas, 

And smote the stern JEacides. 

Bade even Albion's chosen legions yield, 

And won the long disputed World in Saratoga's field ! 

Surrounded with hostile cabals and haughty aspiring men, who are aiming to raise 
a monarchy upon the ashes of the republic ; stunned with the din of calumny, and 
subjected to the impertinent questions of folly, and the anger of despair, Jefferson 
lifts his radiant head above the storm with magnanimity, being assured of the love 
and gratitude of the most discerning people that were ever leagued together in one 
political obligation. To satisfy the desires of all, when those desires are so contra- 
dictory, is not within the sphere of moral agency ; but he does as much as the frailty 
of our nature will permit, by resorting to virtue, in his intention, and to experience 
in his action. It has been obviously his endeavour to prove that natural society may 
be maintained by the fair principles of natural justice, and that mankind may be 
taught to regard virtue from the beauty of its semblauce and the holiness of its qual- 
ities. It is for the peculiar reputation as well as happiness of the New World, that 
such a system can be properly appreciated here, as there is no other territory where 
the intelligence of the people would be equal to the reception or enjoyment of such 
unexampled advantages. The other societies of the earth are little better than the 
Roman slaves were ; pro nullis, pro mortuis : or of no account in the scale of honor, 
retribution or mercy. They may have their gradations of bondage, but they are all 
in fetters, subject to the caprice of hereditary despots, who impiously pretend to be 
consecrated by the Almighty while they are mocking his benign attributes in nearly 
all their detci minations. 

It is apparently the disposition of Mr Jefferson, not to try how much can be done 
with toleration, but how much the nature of what is good and equitable may require : 
his administration seems rather an experiment of governing kindness, proving how 
far society can be virtuously consistent, independent of coerc:ve harshness ; than as 
a course of rule corresponding with human wants, and equal to the resistance of the 
worst affections of the mind. Without largesses for the covetous ; wuhout titles for 
the vain ; without commensurate rigour for the unworthy, and without sustenance 
for the extraneously ambitious, he holds the scales of a nation's glory, and. with a 
steady hand ; leaving the unsheathed sword to the guidance of justice who superin- 
tends his understanding, and ratifies his declaration. Under his auspicious govern- 
ment, we hear nothing of mercenary armies ; sedition bills to suppress examination ; 
intulerable taxation; proscriptive statutes; cockade insignce ; tumult, massacres, 
and all those train of horrors with which the fearful Tyrant environs his seat of 



120 NOTES. 

aulhorify. No ! conscious of his unspotted integrity and patriotism, he disdains to 
be indebted for any buttress to his power, but what arises from the knowledge and 
regard of his fellow-citizens. Under such a beneficent magistracy, where is a mure 
energetic call upon the forbearance of honest men, in the luxuriance of freedom 
which we now enjoy, than in other natious where the execution of a mandate is 
prompt and horrible. Having the latitude to do much wrong with impunity, would 
be a guarantee, with a noble mind, not to exercise the privilege in wantonness. 
Every ordinance that has been issued by Mr, Jefferson, is encircled by compassion ; 
it seems the result of a conviction that we must, (ere many years more are past) 
descend into the tomb, where the ermine and the pomp of office, and all the embla- 
zonment of the herald will be forgotten, and where nothing can survive the cold 
arrows of death, but the virtue of the man He has found the great secret, which is 
so illustrative of the christian doctrine, that the love of himself, is involved in the 
love of others. 

" Self-love bvt serves the virtuous mind to uake, 
Js the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake : 
The centre mov , d a circle strait succeeds ; 
Another still, and still another spreads : 
Friend, parent, 7ieighbour, first it will embrace, 
His country next, and next all human race.'" 

This inauguration will be memorable in the annals of social greatness : It comes 
upon us. like the return of the genial spring, when the brightest prospects are 
touched by the sweet pencil of hope : Yet it is not flattering, but warranted by the 
experience of the senses. We hail if, as the millennium of Philosophy ; as the com- 
mencement of those liberal times, when the ethics of our faith, shall supersede the 
intolerance of the zealot : when the vizor shall be plucked from the visage of the 
hypocrite; and the piety of the tongue, be arranged in comparative examination 
with the morals of the heart, preparatory to th;ir prostration, in sackcloth and 
ashes, before the anger of the living God. 

To secure an unvaried return of these blessings, it is incumbent on every man to 
be at his post, for 

" We have scotched the snake, not killed it." 

It is our bounden duty, to elect such men to the prominent offices of State Govern- 
ment, whose principles are in accordance with the executive authority of the empire. 
The whole world is regarding your present eijoyment of peace, strength, economy 
and honor, with sensations of admiration and envy. As security is the deceiver of 
men, you must never forget the causes of the declension of the Roman Republic — 
That august Commonwealth never shone with so much lustre, as in the epoch of its 



NOTES. 121 



adversity. When they became rich and potent, they were negligent of probity, and 
ungrateful to their defenders. Deluged willi streams of wickedness that flowed in 
upon their institutions and polluted their manners, they began to forsake their Gods 
and themselves. Spartacus, a Thracian slave (who was the Touissaint of elder times) 
took advantage of their luxurious resignation, and with a band of co slaves, defeated 
their stoutest Generals. 'When their manly qualities were emasculated by vicious- 
ness, they sunk into effeminacy, and suffered their charter to be usurped by Ca?sar ; 
he had his successors in dominion and iniquity, until a horde of Barbarians, allured 
by their far-famed voluptuousness, descended from the Alps into the pregnant val- 
Iies of Italy, and, iike a harsh whirlwind, swept the embers of the Roman people, 
from the dwellings of their fathers, and the temples of their Olympian Jove. 

If this empire should bs successively regulated, by men, similar in thought and 
virtue to Mr. Jefferson, it will be so vast and splendid, as to cast those of Rfme, 
Assyria and Babylon at an immeasurable distance. Agreeably to the progress of 
time, we may rationally anticipate the bliss when agriculture and commerce shall 
traverse (he wilds and the lakes, spreading civilization and comfort befoie them: 
until bounded by another sea, the glad Genius of Columbia shall repose, and become 
dutiful and responsive to the voice of Liberty, from the margin of the north-west 
ocean ! 

Teach your children, Fellow-Citizens, to lisp the achievements of your Revolution- 
ary Heroes, and the noble axioms of your Sages at that momentous crisis, that the 
character of your glory, may be pure and luminous, and durable as the Greek fne. 
Instruct them in the civilities of demeanor, that our conditiou may be as graceful as 
it is vigorous. Guard the Federal compact, that was bequeathed you, by your im- 
mortal Washington, from the open assaults of treason, and the more dangerous in- 
roads of an unfriendly dissimulation. Deposit it in the ark of your national honor, 
where we fervently pray, it may remain integral and unpolluted, for ever and ever ! 

As a Scholar and a Philosopher, Mr. Jefferson stands unrivalled in this empiie, at 
least there is no extant evidence to the contrary. Dr. Franklin was eminent as a 
Philanthropist and a Philosopher, but not as a polite Scholar, and Mr. Hamilton 
had but a limited pretension to either character, although he had fatal merit as a 
political Leader. We have a cheerful expectation that Mr. Jefferson, may introduce 
the elements of a national institute, among us, to place Science on a basis of appro- 
priate honor. The general state of Literature is ti'uiy deplorable ; it is rounded 
with ignorance and calumny — Satire is a wholesome corrective, that requires emi- 
nent endowments and acquirements to enforce, but every coarse miscreant can de- 
fame, and they, who are most brutal, believe they are most in request. We cannot 
think of the vast importance of this country to the felicity of the whole human race, 
without biing tremblingly anxious for the establishment of every advantage, that 



122 



NOTES. 



can lie conducive to its power an 1 glory— At present, Montesquieu and Noah Web- 
ster, the Iliad and Yankee Diodle, are nearly in the same scale of praise ! 

As there is an unusual portion of good sense, in the community, it has often as- 
tonished us, that there should be so little practical decorum, though decorum is the 
food of morals. — We should be happy to see the Republicans engraft aristocratic 
manners upon democratic principles : — as politeness is the necessary and required 
result of civilization, it will force itself eventually, into our embracs ; if it is not 
suffered to advance in mild association with freedom, it will a?sume a partial aspect, 
and b irst upon us, in the splendid impositions of a monarchy. — We are anxious to 
have it proved, that what society may gaiu in principles, they may not lose in man- 
ners. We fervently hope the generous influence of Mr. Jefferson's authority, may 
add such force to the hospitality of the nation, that when distinguished men arrive 
in America, in conformity with Congressional invitation, they may receive those 
sweetened civilities of life,, which are uniformly enj lyed in the elder countries, where 
no such allurement is held forth. — When this amelioration occurs, if another Ovid 
should be exiled by another Tyrant, he will not be envied for his genius, nor be ob- 
noxious for his accomplishments. — Then the Graces and the Muses, will rejoice, in 
the liberation of the New World. 

Anthony Pasqcin. 
























































































































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